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25^ Columbia County has produced more distinguished 
men, it is believed, than any other county of equal size and 
population in this State, or in any other State in the Union. 
Her Lawyers and Statesmen have filled the most important 
offices in our State and General Governments ; while among 
her Military and Naval Heroes she numbers the illustrious 
Major-General Worth of the Army, and the much-lamented 
Allen of the Navy. 



^. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 



DISTINGUISHED MEN OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, 



INCLUDING AN ACCOUNT OP THE 



MOST IMPORTANT OFFICES THEY HAVE FILLED, 



STATE AND GENERAL GOVERNMENTS, 



AND IN THE 



ARMY AND NAVY. 



BY WILLIAM RAYMOND, 

Of Cbatham, Colombia CouDty. 



« > I 



ALBANY. 

WEED, PARSONS AND COMPANY. 

185L 



4 






3 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the office of the Clerk of the 
Northern District of the State of New-York, 

By WILLIAM RAYMOND, 

of Chatham, Columbia county, the fourteenth day of April, one thovwand 
eight hundred and fifty-one. 



CONTENTS 



/- 



i 



f^. 



FACE. 

Elisha Williams, 1 

William W. Van Ness, 21 

r- John P. Van Ness, /. 32 

William P. Van Ness, 33 

-Cornelius P. Van Ness, 34 

Peter Van Schaack, 36 

Thomas P. Grosrenor, y. 39 

Eobert K. Livingston, [/ 42 

^Daniel Cady, , \i 44 

Lieut. William Howard Allen, 46 

Gen. AVilliam J. Worth, 55 

Ambrose Spencer, -V-- 62 

John C. Spencer, \l 66 

, Martin Van Buren, V/ 70 

Benjamin F. Butler, 75 

Amos Eaton, 77 

John W. Edmonds 73 

Ambrose L. Jordan, - 84 

Jacob Rutzen Van Rensselaer, - 85 

. Nathaniel Potter Tallmadge, i^ 86 

Daniel Bryant Tallmadge, 87 

' John C. Hogeboom, 89 

James Vanderpoel, 90 

,, Aaron Vanderpoel, 93 

Peter Van Alen, ?-. 95 

^ Peter Sylvester, V". 96 

John Van Buren 97 

Abraham Van Buren, 104 

Appendix — Speech of Elisha Williams, ^.. 105 



PREFACE. 



It will be perceived that many of the subjects of these 
sketches are national in their character, consequently this 
work will not only be interesting to the citizens of Columbia 
county and the State of New- York, but to those of every 
state in the Union. Her distinguished sons have filled the 
most important ofiices in the state and general governments, 
and their acts and labors constitute an important portion of 
the history not only of the State of New- York, but of the 
nation. 

This county is greatly distinguished for the number and 
exalted talents of her lawyers and statesmen ; and she is 
equally so for her military and naval heroes. The names of 
Worth and Allen are known throughout the world. 

This county has produced one President of the United 
States, one Vice-President, three Governors of States and Terri- 
tories, three Foreign Ministers, one Secretary of State of the 
United States, one Secretary of the Department of War, one 
United States Attorney-General, one Judge of the United States 
District Court, two or three Supreme Court Judges, one Circuit 
Judge, three Attorney-Generals of the State of New- York, and 
two United States Senators ; besides many distinguished Mem- 
bers of Congress, and other ofllccrs, both of the State and Ge- 
neral Governments. Several of the ofiices we have named 



VI PREFACE. 

were filled in the person of Martin Van Buren. If any other 
county has done as mnchj it has not come to our knowledge. 

Many of the distinguished individuals whose names we 
have mentioned, are still living and actively engaged in the 
business of their professions. Some of the most eminent 
lawyers in the city of New- York and in other sections of 
the state, were born in Columbia county. Her lawyers have 
rendered the state important services in the revision of our 
laws. The services rendered by John C. Spencer and Benja- 
min F. Butler, are well known to the public. 

We have given dates and facts in the lives of our subjects, 
as the nature of this work does not permit of any extended 
notice of the public measures originated or sustained by the 
persons whose names are commemorated ; but we have 
named most of the important offices that have been filled by 
our distinguished citizens. Our information has been derived 
from reliable sources, and will be found to be correct. 

There are several more distinguished individuals born in 
this county, that might be added to the list which we have 
given in our contents. Amongst this number are several mem- 
bers of the Columbia bar, and several others of the different 
professions ; but we are prevented from the limits we have 
given to our work. All of the distinguished individuals that 
we have named were born in Columbia county, with the ex- 
ception of two or three, and they acted and distinguished 
themselves in this county. 



e 



^ 



ELISHA WILLIAMS. 



Honorable Elisha Williams, of Hudson, New- York, 
son of Colonel Ebenezer Williams, was born August 29, 1773, 
and died in the city of New- York, at the residence of Seth 
Grosvenor, June 29, 1833. After the death of his father, 
Captain Seth Grosvenor was appointed his guardian, who 
superintended his education. He was a law student with 
Judge Reeves of Litchfield, and the late Chief Justice 
Spencer, at Hudson. He was admitted to the bar in June, 
1793, and commenced the practice of the law in the village 
of Spencertown the same year. His early education was 
rather limited, nor was he in after life remarkable for labo- 
a-ious study, as he always depended, in a great measure, on 
his own resources. After he commenced professional busi- 
ness in Spencertown, he verj'" soon attracted attention, and 
was engaged on the trial of important causes, and in oppo- 
sition to the most distinguished lawyers at the Columbia bar, 
at that period™ There were many obstacles in his way 
when he commenced professional business, and he was 
poor ; but I would here remark that he left a fortune of from 
two to three hundred thousand dollars at the time of his de- 
cease. In 1795, he married the second daughter of his guar- 
dian, Miss Lucia Grosvenor. He had five children by his wife ; 
the first a daughter, who died in infancy ; Gerusha Paten, 
who married James H. Teacle from the state of Virginia ; they 
are both dead, leaving two children, a boy and a girl. The 
first is now married and settled in Utica, New-York, and bears 
the name of his grandfather, Elisha Williams Teacle ; the 
girl is also married, and resides in the city of New- York. 
Abby Grosvenor, who resides in that city, is unmarried. 
Grosvenor Elisha, who graduated at Hamilton College with 
credit, but who died in 1819, at the age of nineteen. An un- 
fortunate weakly boy, who died in 1835. The wife of Mr. 
Williams died December 24, 1838. 

Mr. Williams removed from Spencertown to Hudson, in 
1800- He possessed a mind of superior mould ; and he com- 



A BIOGRAPHY OF 

billed in his character a rare assemblage of great and spIeiidi(J 
qualities ; he was a man of rapid and quick perceptions, and 
was remarkable for his imitative, imaginative and descriptive 
power, for his brilliant wit, and his surpassing eloquence. 
He was exceedingly interesting in conversation, warm hearted 
and ardent in his attachments ; and he was liberal, generous- 
and charitable. He was as greatly distinguished for his fine 
personal appearance, as he was for his superior intellectual 
powers ; he was above medium size and height, and perfectly 
erect and corpulent. His countenance was indescribably 
animated and expressive, and his general aspect deno- 
ted great superiority ; a stranger would be forcibly struck 
with his majestic and dignified appearance, and without 
hearing him speak, would be conscious that he was in the 
presence of an extraordinary man. He was indeed the most 
noble, perfect, and God-like form I ever beheld ; it seems as- 
if the Creator, in the formation of his body and mind, de- 
signed to make a magnificent display of his superior skili 
and workmanship. 

Mr. WiUiams had a very extensive practice ; it was not 
confined to Columbia county ; nor the State, he was frequently 
employed in the trial of important causes in neighboring 
States. He commenced the practice of law at an early age, 
and rose rapidly to eminence in his profession ; and as a jury 
lawyer, it is believed he has never had a superior in this or 
any other country. 

In the examination and cross-examination of witnesses, he- 
had no equal, especially in the cross-examination of unwil- 
ling witnesses \ he could and did elicit the truth from this 
class of witnesses in spite of all their artifices and evasion s ^ 
he was a terror to such witnesses, and they greatly dreaded 
to be dealt with by him. His intuitive penetration enabled 
him to discover at a glance of his mind if opposing witnesses 
had been trained and disciplined ; and he was certain to ex- 
pose them to public view, if they attempted to conceal the 
truth or evade him, and under his hand, they would at once 
tell the truth to avoid public detection. 

He possessed a deep,, varied and profound knowledge of 
human nature, which enabled him to exert an unbounded 
influence over a jury ; and he always studied the character 
of the juries whom he addressed, and took advantage, if any 
was to be had, of their political and religious opinions, their 
passions and their prejudices. In his addresses to a jury, he 
was eloquent, ingenious, and impressive. "^Vhe great versa-^ 
tility of his talents, and his inimitable wit and humor, ena- 
bled him to give great life and variety to his arguments ; he 
seemed to possess the power of exciting and controling all 
the passions of the human heart at will. With an imagi- 
nation as brilliant as that of Shakespeare, he seized upon the 



ELISHA WILLIAMS. 6 

Strong points of his case, and invested tliem with a most 
lively coloring ; and his opponents at the bar have often 
experienced the mighty povver of his invectives. He was 
greatly distinguished for originality of thought and expression, 
and he never addressed a jury or made a speech on any oc- 
casion, without saying something new, beautiful, and original. 
Whenever it was known at Hudson that he was to try an 
important cause, crowds were always in attendance, eager to 
witness the display of his wit, his ingenuity and his eloquence. 
He attracted equal attention in other sections of the State, 
every part of which he visited during his professional career. 
His wonderful powers of mind, his transcendent talents, and 
his unrivalled eloquence as an advocate, will not be fully 
known to posterity, because all those that heard him and felt 
the powers of his mighty intellect, and none but such can 
form an adequate idea of his merits and superiority over all 
other men, will soon pass away, and from a description, no per- 
son can form a just conception of the character of this extra- 
ordinary man. Thousands and tens of thousands have been 
delighted with his eloquence ; and it is to be regretted that 
so many of his brilliant efforts at the bar were not reported, 
and must be wholly lost to posterity. It was impossible 
for any reporter to do him justice; his language might have 
^cen given, but his peculiar manner of delivery, his inim- 
:' ble gesticulation, his melodious voice, his lustrous coun- 
i lance beaming with intelligence, no language can por- 
tray. An eminent lawyer of Massachusetts, once remark- 
ed that it was a melancholy reflection to think that such a 
prodigy of genius must ever die. Although his body has 
been consigned to the tomb, his memory still lives, fresh in 
the recollections of thousands, and will be transmitted to 
future ages. 

Mr. Williams, for many years, exerted a controlling politi- 
cal influence in Columbia county, and was the leader of the 
Federal party in this county for a long period, and dictated 
who should go to Congress, but would never consent to be a 
candidate for that office himself, as he was then doing a large 
and lucrative professional business at Hudson. He apprecia- 
ted the emoluments of his profession more highly than he 
did political preferment and honor. It is to be regretted that 
a man of such Iranscendant talents, should have devoted his 
lime and attention so exclusively to professional business. 
Had he abandoned the practice of law, and turned his atten- 
tion to the study of political science, he would have stood in 
the front rank of American statesmen. He could have been 
elected to Congress had he desired it; an! at Washington he 
would at once have attracted the attention of the nation. 
Such a man as he was would have been an ornament to any 
legislative body on earth, and he might have ranked with 



4 BIOGRAPHY OF 

Adams, Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and other illustrious Ameri- 
cans, for he possessed talents at least equal to any man in the 
nation. He was frequently elected to the Assembly from this 
county, and was the Federal leader in the House ; and no 
man in that body has ever attracted more attention ; and 
whenever it was known at Albany that he was to address 
the House, multitudes of eager listeners were always in at- 
tendance. 

He was also an active and influential member of the Con- 
stitutional Convention of 1821, and he delivered several able 
speeches in that body during its session. We will here give 
the commencement of his speech, delivered in that body on 
the 24th September, on freehold qualifications : 

He began by saying " that he had hitherto been silent, but 
not inattentive, to the various subjects that have been under 
consideration in this body. I have been delighted with the 
towering eloquence that has been displayed on every side of 
the House ; 1 have been instructed by the wisdom and experi- 
ence of those that have occupied the floor. When I look 
around me and see who are associated in this important trust, 
when 1 beheld our seats filled with men who have sustained 
the highest offices in the gift of the government, when I per- 
ceive that they are occupied by those who have grown grey 
in the service of their country, a majority of whom have 
passed the autumn of life, bringing into our councils the rich 
fruits of experience, I cannot but feel that the people of this 
State have a right to expect wisdom and prudence, and mo- 
deration in the decision of those matters that are here made 
the subjects of deliberation. From this sacred hall be banish- 
ed every unhallowed faction, every lawless passion ; here 
rights are consulted, and may impartial justice sanctify the 
consultation. Who does not ieel and appreciate the responsi- 
bility of his situation. The eyes of the world are upon us, 
every quarter of Europe has fixed its attention on independ- 
ent America, and in the front rank stands the State of New- 
York ; and sir, the character of the State depends, in a great 
degree on our deliberations. 

" The votes we are to give on this occasion, will be placed 
on never-d3nng records ; it behoves us therefore to transmit 
to posterity something which may be worthy of future re- 
membrance. If the demon of party is suffered to prevail, in 
a few short years it may be said of our doings, that thejr 
were the result of a party convention ; that our proceedings 
were dictated by the tyrant of party ; that under its influence 
we had effaced the fairest feature in the constitution, and 
destroyed the proudest pillar in the fabric of our government. 
Party sir, is the gourd of a day ; it flourishes in the night of 
deception, but withers when the full rays of investigation are 
brought to beam upon it. A good constitution is the heart of 



ELISHA WILLIAMS. 5 

the body politic, its influence flows through all the veins and 
arteries, and warms and animates the extremities ; it is the 
sun of our system, around which revolve in harmonious 
order the executive, judicial, and legislative departments. We 
are not now emerging from a state of nature ; it is not at this 
late day that the community are about to enter into the 
social compact ; it is not now that we are about to surrender 
certain portions of our natural rights, for the purpose of form- 
ing a mass whose collective weight shall govern and sustain 
the residue. It is almost half a century since the government 
of this State has been formed, during all which time we have 
participated in the choicest blessings that government could 
confer." 

On the thirteenth of October he addressed the Convention 
on the legislative department ; and on the 18th on the forma- 
tion of Senate districts, and again on the same subject Octo- 
ber 26. 

The democratic party, who were in a majority in the Con- 
vention, were accused by the federalists of organizing the 
several Senatorial districts, so as to secure the greatest possible 
number of democratic districts, without having due regard to 
their proximity and contiguity. This management was term- 
ed gerrymandering. 

Mr. Williams in his speech, delivered in the Convention on 
this subject, remarked that he arose for the purpose of stating 
his objections to the plan proposed by the gentleman from 
Otsego, Mr. Van Buren, and to say a few words in behalf of 
the county of Columbia; "she will do her duty," said Mr. 
Williams, " place her where you will, unless you attach her to 
Massachusetts ; she will be an aid to her friends and a terror 
to her enemies." 

" When gentlemen introduced their proposition for a division 
into eight districts, and displayed their map in the lobby, they 
gave a virtual pledge that it should not be afterwards politi- 
cally modified ; and he would add, that the principal cause of 
the abandonment of the favorite project of thirty-two districts, 
was the map, but it was to be feared that gentlemen were 
now to be out-mapped. The question is not so much of popu- 
lation as of territory. What is the fact 1 In the second district 
we shall have a narrow territory, extending from within 
fifteen miles of the city of New-York to within twelve miles 
of the city of Albany ; and in the third district you will have 
a gerrymander that will curl its tail on the mountains of Jer- 
sey, coil along the borders of Pennsylvania, and thrust its 
head into Bennington. Disguise it as you will, the object 
will be visible, and the people of this State will understand 
that it is to exclude federalism from every Senatorial district. 
It may be just, it may be magnanimous, but gentlemen must 
do as they please, as they hold the power. 



6 BIOGRAPHY OF 

Mr. Williams was a very able and successful civil and 
criminal lawyer. We will mention a few important cases, in 
which he was employed when he distinguished himself One 
of his greatest efforts at the bar of this county, was made in 
the celebrated Clark case, or will case, about the year 1820 
or 1821, at a circuit court. A man by the name of Clark, 
eighty years of age, had made a will, disposing of a large 
amount of real and personal property, in a manner which 
seemed to indicate great imbecility of mind, and which ap- 
peared unreasonable and unjust. A majority of the Clark 
family were dissatisfied with the provisions of the will, and 
they attempted to break it, and employed Mr. Williams as 
their attorney. Martin Van Buren, who was then at the 
zenith of his legal fame, was employed on the defence. The 
trial was a protracted one, and it excited great interest at 
Hudson and throughout the county ; particularly the addresses 
to the jury. The testimony in the case was closed on Satur- 
day, the examination of the witnesses having occupied seve- 
ral days ; the court adjourned until the Monday following, in 
order to give the counsel a fair opportunity of being heard. It 
was generally known throughout the county that this im- 
portant cause would be summed up on Monday, which attract- 
ed the attention of a crowded audience. The wife and 
daughters of Mr. Williams, and other ladies of high respecta- 
bility were present. There was a diversity of opinion among 
the witnesses who testified in the case, as to the competency 
of the old man to dispose of his property. 

Mr. Van Buren, who first addressed the jury for the defend- 
ants, made an eloquent, ingenious and impressive speech, 
and he was listened to throughout with great delight. His 
speech occupied about three hours, and it was unquestiona- 
bly one of the most brilliant efforts of his professional career. 
Mr. Williams replied in a speech of about equal length, 
and it was one of his most masterly efforts. I never heard 
him when he was more witty, eloquent and sarcastic, than he 
was on this occasion. When he arose to address the jury, 
every countenance beamed with expressions of delight, and 
every eye in the vast assembly was fixed on the speaker 
throughout the whole of his speech. Some parts of which 
were very pathetic, other portions extremely ludicrous, some- 
times the whole audience was very deeply affected by the 
descriptions he gave of the injustice done to the Clark family, 
and at other times the jury and the audience were convulsed 
with laughter. I have never witnessed a greater versatility 
of talents than Mr. WiUiams exhibited on this occasion, and 
in the opinion of the writer, who was present during this 
trial, it was seldom, if ever, surpassed. The jury did not agree 
on their verdict, and a new trial was had. 



EmSHA WILLIAMS. 7 

Dn the second trial the Honorable Benjamin F. Butler, 
who was then a law partner of Martin Van Buren, and the 
Honorable Ambrose Spencer, appeared and tried this cause 
for the defendants, Mr. Van Buren was then in the United 
States Senate, Aaron Vanderpool assisted Mr, Williams. 
The second trial was also a protracted one, having occupied 
several days ; the testimony on the second trial was about 
the same as that on the first, and about the same number of 
witnesses were sworn. The audience that were present on 
the trial, was, if possible, more numerous and respectable than 
that assembled on the former one ; it was composed of both 
sexes ; men of all professions were in attendance, and a num- 
ber of the reverend clergy were present to hear the addresses 
to the jury. 

Aaron Vanderpool first addressed the jury on the second 
trial, and was followed by Mr. Williams, on the same side, in 
a speech which occupied more than three hours ; and it fully 
equalled his former effort, and the effect it produced on the 
audience was electrical. This has always been considered 
one of his greatest efforts at the Columbia bar ; no man was 
ever listened to with deeper attention than Mr, Williams was 
on this occasion ; and no person, from a description, can 
form a correct idea of its effect on the crowded auditory. It 
was indeed a speech of great power, and such an one as few 
men are competent to make. He was quite excited on this 
occasion ; its great importance had roused the energies of his 
mighty mind ; he dwelt with great emphasis on the unreason- 
ableness of the will, and said that a man of sound mind would 
never have made swch a disposition of his property -, and that 
the will itself proved conclusively that the maker was super- 
anuated, and incompetent to transact business, 

Mr. Clark had willed a powder horn to his grandson, which 
he thought evinced great mental weakness ; and he remarked 
in his address to the jury, that a man of sound mind would 
never have attached so much importance to such a valueless 
article. After availing himself of every argument that could 
be drawn from the facts in the case, he closed by saying that 
" our bounds to three score years and ten are set ; shall a man 
then eighty years of age make a will? No, he has outlived 
Clod Almighty's statute of limitations," 

Mr, Butler first addressed the jury for the defence, and he 
made a very respectable effort ; and he was followed by the 
Hon. Ambrose Spencer. He appeared at the bar of Columbia 
county under peculiar and interesting circumstances. It was 
in this county he studied law, and it was here he first entered 
upon his professional career, and he had often tried the intel- 
lectual strength of Mr. Williams, before his appointment as 
Supreme Judge. Mr, Spencer, after an absence of some 
(twenty years from this county, had closed his judicial labors, 



8 BIOGRAPHY OF 

and appeared as an advocate at the Columbia bar, engaged 
in a very important cause, and opposed to one of the most 
eloquent and talented men of the age. 

His speech occupied about three hours, and was listened 
to with the deepest attention during its delivery. He com- 
menced by saying, that the county of Columbia was the 
theatre of his early life ; it was here he first engaged in the 
business of his profession, and it was here he said in early 
life, he had formed a large circle of acquaintences and friends ;. 
and as he looked around upon the crowded audience, he dis- 
covered but few of his early acquaintences, a large majority 
of whom were now sleeping with the dead. He remarked 
that he was aware that his appearance as an advocate on this 
occasion would be awkward, and that he was apprehensive 
that he should disappoint the expectations of his friends, as 
his province had been for a long period of years to hold the 
scales of justice evenly betwixt contending parties. 

In reply to Mr. Williams' remarks concerning the powder 
horn, he said that Washington had willed his walking-staff 
to his particular friend, yet nobody had ever considered this 
circumstance in him an evidence of imbecility of mind. Mr, 
Williams here interrupted Mr. Spencer by saying, " is that 
law or testimony ? " " It is neither law nor testimony," he 
instantly responded, " but it is history, and very much to my 
purpose. This," he continued. " was an elegantly wrought 
powder horn, and that Mr. Clark in his life time had fre- 
quently talked over this subject with his grandson, and that 
he had promised to give him this article. Property," he said, 
" in itself comparatively valueless, from long possession is ren- 
dered valuable to the possessor ; and that it had two distinct 
values, an intrinsic and an associative value. This article to 
him was valuable on account of its associations ; it reminded 
him of his hunting days and the pleasures of the chase. He 
loved this grandson, and he bestowed upon him this pow- 
der horn as a token of peculiar regard." Mr. Spencer after 
endeavoring in every possible way to operate on the judg- 
ment, the feelings and the passions of the jury, he remark- 
ed to them : " Gentlemen, some of you 1 know personally, 
and your fathers whose spirits are now in heaven, have stood 
by me." This, it is believed, was the last professional effort 
that this distinguished man ever made in this county. 

The impression it made on the audience will never be ef- 
faced from their memories. This cause probably excited 
more interest than any other that was ever tried at the Co- 
lumbia bar„ 

The second effort to break the will proved unsuccessful, 
and it remained in force. 

Mr. Williams also distinguished himself in the case of the 
People vs. Margaret Houghtaling, who was tried in this coun- 



ELISHA WILLIAMS, V 

ty in about the year eighteen hundred and seventeen, for the 
murder of an illegitimate muUatto child, by administering 
poison. The writer was present during this trial, and will 
give a brief statement of this case according to tlie best of 
his recollection; but nobody can do justice to the speech of 
Mr, Williams to the jury, when he summed up in her de- 
fence. He was assigned the prisoner's counsel by the court, 
and had no opportunity for previous preparation, which is so 
important to the successful management of a cause. The 
prisoner and the mother of the child at the time of the mur- 
der, both lived with Dr, John M, Grouse, the celebrated mad 
dog doctor at Stuyvesant, and were both women of notorious- 
ly bad character. It was proved on the trial that the mother 
of the child had threatened its life, and that she had frequen- 
tly left her child in Margaret's care, and that she had taken 
good care of it. It appeared, however, at the time the poi- 
son was supposed to have been administered, that the child 
was in her care, but the mother was at the house at the time^ 
and it was possible that she might have administered the 
poison herself 

The testimony upon which the District Attorney relied for 
Margaret's conviction, was wholly circumstantial, and in my 
judgment, it was far from being conclusive ; but it appears 
that the jury thought differently. Mr, Williams made a 
powerful appeal to the jury when he summed up in her de- 
fence ; he appeared very deeply affected himself, and great 
solemnity pervaded the assembly. His opinion was at the 
time that Margaret was not guilty of the murder, and that the 
poison was administered by the mother. 

In his address to the jury on this occasion, he commenced 
by saying that suspicions had been excited of the defendant's 
guilt, but that the testimony was not sufficient to warrant a 
jury in rendering a verdict of guilty ; he remarked that there 
was a great responsibility resting upon them ; the life of an 
immortal being was involved in their decision. He then went 
into a minute examination of all the circumstances attendant 
upon the case, and contended that it was more likely that the 
mother had poisoned her own child, than it was that Marga- 
ret was guilty of the nuu'der. He said that the color of the 
child evinced the great depravity of the mother, and that she 
had frequently cursed the fruits of her own womb, and ihat 
she had strong and powerful motives to rid herself of this 
living evidence of her shame. 

The mother, he continued, had frequently left this child in 
Margaret's care, and that she had administered to its wants 
when left by its profligate mother. He warned the jury in a 
most solemn and impressive manner against the danger of 
convicting upon circumstantial testimony. He remarked 
that it was deceptive, and that it should not be relied upon. 



10 BIOGRAPHY OF 

especially in a case where life is at stake. He then cited 
several cases where persons had been convicted of murder 
upon circumstantial testimony, and executed, that were af- 
terwards proved to be innocent. He mentioned other cases 
where persons had been accused of theft, and the property 
alleged to have been stolen was found in their possession, 
that were not guilty. The cup he said was found in the 
mouth of Benjamin's sack, and still he was innocent ; and 
he concluded this masterly speech by saying, that it was bet- 
ter that ninety-nine guilty jtersons should go unpunished, 
than one innocent one should suffer. 

The district attorney, in his reply to the arguments of 
Mr. Williams, remarked, that murders were seldom, if 
ever, committed in the presence of witnesses, and if we 
convict at all for murder, we must do so upon circumstantial 
testimony ; and that it was often the safest kind of evidence 
upon which to rely, and free from many objections that might 
be urged against positive proof. Men he said might perjure 
themselves, but circumstances would not lie, and that there 
might be such a concatenation of circumstances, as to render 
certain conclusions inevitable, and that such were the cir- 
cumstances attendant upon this case, and that the jury must 
come to the conclusion that the prisoner was guilty, and that 
it was their duty to convict her. It appeared, however, that 
circumstances in this case did lie. Margaret, in her dying 
moments, declared that she was innocent; and the mother, 
on her death bed, acknowledged that she had poisoned her 
own child. It is believed that this is the only execution that 
has occurred in this county since the commencement of the 
present century ; and although several persons have been 
indicted and tried for that crime in this county, and almost 
every one, if not all, were defended by Mr. Williams, whose 
success as a criminal lawyer is unparalleled. We have not 
the least doubt if he had had an opportunity of previous 
preparation, in Margaret's case, he would have been instru- 
mental in clearing her. 

Mr. Williams defended Charles Decker, who was indicted 
for the murder of a female in this county, by wounds inflicted 
with a knife. He exhibited great ingenuity on this trial, and 
succeeded in procuring his acquittal. It appears that the 
prisoner and the deceased were neighbors. After he had mor- 
tally wounded her, he said that he had killed a witch, 
and was glad of it. The defence which Mr. WiUiams set up 
was the insanity of the prisoner, although some at the time 
were of the opinion that his insanity was feigned, and it was 
proved on the trial that the prisoner had conversed rationally 
before and after the murder, which the district attorney con- 
lended proved the sanity of the prisoner. We regret that we 



ELISHA WILLIAMS. 11 

are not able to describe more minutely this case, but we will 
give what we recollect about it, and some few of Mr. Williams' 
own sentences, when he summed up for the prisoner. 

He commenced by remarking that it would not be denied 
that the death of the deceased was caused by wounds in- 
flicted by the prisoner, but that the defence he should set up 
was his insanity at the time ; and when God, said he, in his 
providence sees fit to afflict any of his creatures with the be- 
reavement of their reason, he himself will no longer take no- 
tice of their actions, and instead of exciting our indignation 
they are entitled to our pity and compassion. The raving 
maniac, he said, had lucid intervals, when the sun of reason 
shines in upon the darkened understanding ; and if it was 
necessary, in order to establish insanity, that the mind must 
be perpetually darkened, it would be impossible ever to prove 
insanity, except in the few cases of unremitting madness, 
where no twilight ray of reason ever gleams athwart the 
chaos of the brain. He said that the deceased and the pri- 
soner had lived in the constant interchange of neighborly 
kindnesses, and if she could have spoken in her dying mo- 
ments she would have said that Charles Decker was the last 
man from whose malice she had any thing to fear. This 
was a speech of great power, and ought to have been reported 
and transmitted to posteritJ^ He was remarkably eloquent 
throughout his whole speech, on this occasion. We have 
given what little we recollect about it, but most of this speech 
will be lost to the world, as will be the case with most of his 
brilliant efforts at the bar. 

He made another splendid effort in the city of New- 
York, in September, 1820, in the United States Circuit 
Court, before Judge Brockholdst Livingston, one of the 
Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States. This 
was an action for slander, brought by the Reverend Daniel 
Parker vs. Cyrus Swan, Esq. Mr. Williams was Mr. Par- 
ker's attorney; George Griffin, of the city of New-York, and 
the celebrated Roger M. Sherman, of Connecticut, were the 
defendant's counsel. Mr. Parker belonged to an ecclesi- 
astical body in the state of Connecticut, and in consequence 
of this slander, his connection with that religious body was 
dissolved. This was a cause peculiarly calculated lor the 
display of Mr. Williams' deep and varied knowledge of hu- 
man nature, and his masterly imitative, imaginative and de- 
scriptive powers. The trial continued five days. During 
all this time the court room was thronged with an immense 
concourse of citizens ; the high respectability of the parties, and 
the great legal fame of the counsel employed, drew out a 
large audience, composed of the professional and educated 
classes of society. On the jury was an Irishman of unblem- 
ished character, and another juryman who was an excommu- 



12 BIOGRAPHY OF 

nicated member of a church ; this was known to Mr. Williams, 
but Mr. Sherman was ignorant of these facts. When Mr. Sher- 
man addressed the jury, which he did with great ability, 
(but he made one mistake, an important fact, on which the 
plaintiff considerably relied,) he remarked, " was proved only 
by an Irishman, and was not entitled to credit." 

Mr. Williams, when he addressed the jury, took advantage 
of this unfortunate remark of his opponent. Before he pro- 
ceeded with his argument, he pronounced a splendid eulogy 
upon the Irish character ; he praised their honesty, their in- 
tegrity, their generosity, and their patriotism ; he then drew 
a picture of the character of a true christian, and showed 
how unlike this character was the conduct of that religious 
body, who, for pretended faults had expelled a worthy mem- 
ber. Even if these reports were true, which he denied, the 
course they had pursued toward his client was irreligious 
and unchristianlike ; christians, he said, in this life were 
sanctified only in part, and that it was their duty to bear 
with and forgive each others faults. The character, he re- 
marked, of one of the most eminent saints of antiquity was 
stained with crime. David, a man after God's own heart, 
was guilty of both adultery and murder ; it is impossible from 
a description, to do justice or to give an adequate idea of the 
speech of Mr. VVUHams ; he seemed to control and direct the 
passions of his audience at his will. At one moment there 
was scarcely a dry eye in the room ; perhaps the only excep- 
tions were the defisndant and his eminent counsel. In a few 
moments all were giving away to bursts of laughter, uncon- 
trollable, in defiance alike of constables staffs and judicial 
dignity, and the most strenuous efforts to preserve a gravity 
suited to the occasion. 

His conclusions were so striking, his descriptions so perfect, 
his objects so ludicrously exposed to view, that gravity was 
out of the question ; it was Hogarth acting and describing, 
not drawing his pictures. Again there was a change, other 
feelings and passions were awakened, and resentment for the 
wrongs described by the eloquent orator, was expressed in 
almost every countenance. The whole speech was a splendid 
example of the power of eloquence ; and such an one as is sel- 
dom met with in the history of any country ; and such an one 
as can never be effaced from the memories of those that heard 
it. This great effort added much to the fame of Mr. Williams ; 
it was undoubtedly one of the greatest intellectual efforts ever 
made, and one of the greatest that the human mind is capa- 
ble of making. The celebrated Thomas Addis Emmett, the 
eloquent Irish advocate, who was present during this trial, 
and who had listened with great delight to Mr. Williams' 
address to the jury, when he concluded, approached him 
and shook him very cordially by the hand, and addressed 



ELISHA WILLIAMS. 13 

him as follows : " Mr. Williams, you have done yourself 
immortal honor ; go home and give up your profession ; you 
have nothing to win from a further practice of the law ; the 
effort you have this day made, has never been equalled on 
this side of the Atlantic." 

Some English actors who were in the city at the time, and 
h<=ard this address to the jtuy, remarked that there was 
something peculiar, inimitable, and indescribable in his ges- 
ticulation, and that they were delighted with his eloquence. 
The plaintiff recovered in this suit one thousand dollars da- 
mages, with costs. 

Mr. Bristed, the English traveller, whohearcl ;^r. Williams 
in the Constitutional Convention at Albany, in 1821, and also 
in the Supreme Court that was in session at the same time, 
remarked, "that on a certain trial, Mr. Van Buren was opposed 
to him, and said that he was delighted with his eloquence 
and satirical remarks; sometimes," he said, referring to Mr. 
Van Buren, " that he would raise the little trembler to colossial 
size, and at other times he would depress him into such utter 
insignificance as scarcely to be perceptible to the human 
eye ;" and he concluded by saying that " there was no man 
at the English bar to be compared with him. " 

We give the following extract from a letter of Chancellor 
Kent, one of the most distinguished jurists of New- York, di- 
rected to a friend of Mr. W^illiams, dated, 

"No. 7, Union Place, Dec. 12, 1846. 

" Dear Sir — I have no particular anecdotes worth relating, 
relative to my friend the late Elisha Williams, Esq., of Hud- 
son. He came to the bar about the time I first took a seat 
on the bench of the Supreme Court, April 1798, and he be- 
came, a few years after, a very successful and eminent ad- 
vocate at the bar, and rose rapidly and brilliantly in business 
and reputation. While I was Judge, until 1814, he frequently 
tried cases before me at the circuit, and he was eloquent, 
ingenious and impressive, and showed especially his saga- 
city and judgment in his examination of witnesses at the 
trial, and his addresses to the juries were always forcible, 
pithy, argumentative and singularly attractive, and heightened 
by a volubility of his language and melody of his A'oice, and 
his commanding eye and dignified and attractive persoiL He 
very soon excited my esteem and affection, admiration and 
friendship, and they continued to grow with his growth, and 
his success, during the whole course of his distinguished and 
very celebrated career. I left the Supreme Court Bench and 
became Chancellor in 1814, and there he appeared as a coun- 
sellor, but causes in chancery gave no scope for his eloquence, 
but left free to operate his skill : judgment showed at times 
his brilliant display of his imaginative powers. His goodness 



14 BIOGRAPHY OF 

of heart, his benevolent feelings, his tenderness, his generosity 
and liberality were diplayed in all his interconrse with me, 
and I believe with the world. It was impossible to be much 
in company with him, and not to love and admire him. That 
was my case eminently, and there was no person at the bar 
that had more devoted and affectionate friends. While at 
Hudson, I went up to see him in his last sickness. I was 
awfully struck with his death-like appearance, and the lost 
lustre of his countenance. He received me with exceeding 
respect and tenderness, and my presence drew tears from his 
eyes. 

" I would advise you to recur to the testimonies of the bar 
when it met to commemorate his death, and to pour forth 
their feelings of respect. On the 29th of June, 1S33, the 
New-York bar met in the City Hall, and the speeches and 
resolutions on the occasion were published, and were a glow- 
ing ttibute to his memory and character. So also the bar as- 
sembled at the term of the Supreme Court at Utica, July 
1833 ; and his character was eminently and justly portrayed; 
they spoke of the wonderful effects of his intellect, and of the 
power of his surpassing eloquence ; the fearlessness and the 
generosity of his noble nature. These resolves were pub- 
lished in the Utica Observer at the time. I have no leisure 
at present to enlarge on the interesting theme, and I hope the 
few hasty reminiscences I have recalled, may answer in some 
imperfect degree your wishes. 

I am dear sir, yours truly, 

(Signed.) JAMES KENT." 

The following are the resolutions and notices of him by 
the New-York bar soon after his decease. 

"At a meeting of the gentlemen of the bar, held at the City 
Hall this morning, July 2d, 1833, on account of the recent 
death of Elisha WilliauiS, Esq., Mr. Chit;f Justice Jones was 
appointed chairman, and Wdliam Johnson, Esq., secretary. 

"Judge Oakly after some feeling remarks on the character 
of Mr. Williams, offered the following resolutions, which on 
being seconded by Mr. Grffin, who added a warm and merit- 
ed eulogium on the talents and virtues of the deseased, were 
passed unanimously. 

" Resolved, That in the death of the late Elisha Williams, 
we feel deeply the loss of a respected and beloved brother, who 
was alike an honor to the profession and an ornament to society 
for the kindness and urbanity of his manners, and the sinceri- 
ty, generosity and benevolence of his heart ; for the undevia- 
ting honor of his professional and private life, and the rich 
intellectual treasure, which distinguished him as well by their 
profession as by the prudence with which they poured forth 
at the call of professional duty and private friendship. 



ELISHA WILLIAMS. 15 

'■'■Resolved, That we sincerely sympathize with his afflicted 
family, in the bereavement which tliey have sutTered ; and as 
a mark thereof, as well as respect for the deceased, we will 
attend his fnneral, and wear the usual badge of mourning for 
thirty days. 

" Resolved, That these resolutions, signed by the ('hair- 
man and Secretary, be published, and a copy thereof be pre- 
sented to the family of the deceased. 

" Signed, SAMUEL JONES, Chairinan. 

"William Johnson, Secretary/. 

''July 2d, 1833." 

"In submitting the above resohitio'is which we have given 
in this authenticated form, Judge Oakley arose and addressed 
the meeting as follows : 

" AVe are assembled as members of a profession of which 
Elisha Williams was a distinguished ornament. Onr purpose 
is to pay respect to his memory. It is due to his character as 
a lawyer and a man. His high professional reputation is 
known to us all; his kind and generous heart is known to 
those wlio knew him intimately. We can all unite in admir- 
ing his powerful intellect, his brilliant wit and matchless elo- 
quence — but in those of us who enjoyed his friendship, his 
death has awakened deeper feelings than those of admiration. 
I speak of him as I knew him, in few and simple words as a 
lawyer, whom few excelled, and as a true hearted and liberal 
minded man, to whom there was no superior. He has died 
too soon for those who knew and loved him ; a well earned 
fame which his friends will delight to cherish. I submit to 
you these resolutions, as expressive of the sentiments and fi'el- 
ings in which, I trust, we can all unite." 

Mr. George Griffin seconded the resolutions and added the 
following remarks : 

"Mr. Chairman — In seconding these resolutions, it is not 
my design to enter upon a detailed panegyric of the deceased, 
that will foim a noble subject for the biographer. It is my 
purpose simply to allude to a few of the mo6t prominent fea- 
tures that distinguished him. A stranger would scarcely have 
been in company with Elisha Williams, without being aware 
that he stood in the presence of an extraordinary man. To 
be convinced of this, he need not have witnessed the flashes 
of his wit, sparkling from its own intrinsic brilliancy, nor his 
soul-subduing pathos — nor the d)splays of his deep know- 
ledge of human nature. There belonged to the deceased an 
eye, a voice, a majesty of peison and of mien, that marked 
him lor superiority. With these advantages, it is not sur- 
prising that his eloquence should have comm.mded the uni- 
versal admiration of his contemporaries. It was peculiar, it 
was spontaneous — it was variegated — it was overwhelming — 



Lb BIOGRAPHY OF 

now tiininphing over the convinced and subdued understand- 
ing — now bearing away in willing captivity the rapt imagi- 
nation — and uow knocking with resistless energy at the doors 
of the heart. 

" I have alluded to liis knowledge of human nature. It 
was indeed more varied and profound than I have ever wit- 
nessed in any other advocate. It seemed to have been his 
by intuition. ' He needed not,' as Dryden said of Shakspeare, 
^ the spectacle of books to read nature : he looked inward, 
and found her there.' By a kind of untaught anatomy, he 
was capable of dissecting our intellectual and moral frame. 
It was this quality which gave him his transcendent power 
in the examination and cross-examination of witnesses ; ena- 
bling him to drag forth the truth in triumph from the inmost 
recesses of its hiding place. He owed little to early educa- 
tion. Like Shakspeare, whom he resembled in wit, in imagi- 
nation, in brilliancy, in knowledge of the human heart, in 
creative powers, he was the architect of himself Nor was 
he, even in after life, distinguished for laborious study. His 
communion was with his own mighty mind. Like Prome- 
theus he borrowed his fire from heaven alone, and without 
under-rating professional attainments, or the profound and 
patient research necessary for their acquisition, perhaps it may 
be said, that in the peculiar case of Mr. Williams, it was well 
for him, and for the public, that he poised himself so exclu- 
sively on his own resources. If by this means he imparted 
less of the thoughts of others, he imparted more of his own ; 
if he displaj^ed less of the lore of other times, he displayed 
more of the treasures of his own rich intellect. 

"At the outset of his career, he attciined distinction, and he 
remained in the first rank of his profession, until near the age 
of sixty, when ill health induced him to retire with undimi- 
iiislied powers. I was associated with him in his last profes- 
sional effort in this Hall ; when, like the clear setting sun, he 
shed upon the horizon that he was about to leave forever, the 
full and gladdening radiance of his matchless eloquence. 

" Nor was his heart inferior to his head. He was the most 
dutiful of sons, the kindest of husbands, the most affectionate 
of flithers, the best of neighbors, and the most faithful of 
friends. He had ever ' an eye for pity, and a hand open to 
melting charity.' He was the poor man's gratuitous adviser, 
and liberal benefactor. His charities were more munificent 
ihan his means ; and the blessings of many a one who was 
ready to perish, have ascended before him to the throne of 
God. I close this brief sketch by a cheering allusion to a 
subject with which eaithly honors, and even eloquence itself, 
captivating as it is, dwindle into comparative unimportance. 
For many years past, and indeed fVom early youth, the de- 
ceased had been in theory an unwavering believer in the 



ELISHA WILLIAMS. 17 

truths of our holy rehgion, and when the time of retirement 
gave him 'better means for reflection, there are grounds for 
conchiding that these truths made a deep lodgment in his 
heart. His religious communications with the pastor of the 
village to which he had retired, were of a very satisfactory 
nature. In his last journey to this city, he was often em- 
ployed in secret devotions. During the night preceding his 
death, he was overheard pouring out his ardent prayers to the 
Father of Mercies, and tliere are, we may trust, good reasons 
for believing that brilliant spirit of his, is now a ministering 
angel in a better world." 

"The following resolutions of the gentlemen of the bar at 
Utica, at the sitting of the Supreme Court there on the 2d of 
July, 1833, which were sent me, by John F. Kettle, editor of 
the Utica Observer, will also show the estimation in which 
he was held by his professional brethren. 

" Daniel Cady, Esqr., was chosen moderator, and Greene C 
Brown, secretary. A committee of seven were appointed to 
draft resolutions, of which John C. Spencer, Esq., was chair- 
man, who reported the following, which were unanimously 
adopted. 

"The committee of the bar attending the July term of the 
Supreme Court, have received with most profound grief, the 
intelligence of the death of their honored and beloved asso- 
ciate, Elisha Williams, Esqr. Of the splendid talents, which 
placed Mr. Williams among the very first of their profession, 
their testimony can add no new evidence. During a profes- 
sional career of nearly forty years, every part of our State has 
had an opportunity of witnessing the wonderful efforts of his 
intellect, and of feeling the power of his surpassing eloquence. 
Although distinguished amongst the ablest debaters in our 
public councils, yet we feel it to be our right and our duty to 
claim him as one of the most illustrious ornaments of that 
profession to which his life was devoted, and in which iiis 
greatest triumphs were achieved. To us, and to our succes- 
sors, his example has furnished a lesson of incalculable 
value. Literally the maker of his own fortune and fame, his 
path to greatness is every where strewed with relics of diffi- 
culties overcome and obstacles subdued. 

" But great as were his intellectual efforts, and splendid as 
was his professional course, he is more strongly endeared to 
his associates and brethren by ties of a different kind, and 
which even death cannot sever. The frankness and generosi- 
ty of his noble nature, which so irresistibly won the confi- 
dence and esteem of those who knew him, furnished unerring 
indications of that excellent and full heart which was con- 
stantly overflowing in acts of the purest benevolence, and 
ivhich made him love his friend more than himself 

2 



18 BIOGRAPHY OF 

" We deeply feel the loss of a brother thus endered to us 
by all the virtue that can adorn a man — we sympathize more 
than we can express in the afflictions of his bereaved family ; 
we mourn for our profession thus deprived of one of the 
brightest pillars of its honor, and of its glory ; we grieve for 
the community that has lost an intrepid advocate, as able as 
he was ready to vindicate the oppressed, and to spurn the 
proud man's contumely; and as a full expression of these 
sentiments, 

" Resolved, That we wear the usual emblems of mourning 
for thirty days, and that we respectfully recommend to the 
members of the profession throughout the State, to adopt the 
same mode of evincing their regard for the memory of our 
deceased brother. 

" Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed by the 
chairman to consider and report to a meeting of the bar, to be 
held at the next October term of the Supreme Court, of the 
expediency of some permanent memorial of our regard for 
the public and private character of our deceased brother. 

" Resolved, That a copy of these proceedings be transmit- 
ted to the family of Mr. Williams, with the assurance of our 
sincere condolence with them in the afflicting dispensation 
which has deprived them of such a father and benefactor. 

" Resolved, That the officers of this meeting cause these 
proceedings to be published. The following gentlemen were 
appointed a committee, pursuant to the third resolution : — 
Messrs. Benjamin F. Butler, Marcus T. Reynolds, Ambrose 
L. Jordan, Aaron Vanderpool, and John C. Spencer. In the 
course of the proceedings, Messrs. Alvah Stewart, Benjamin 
F. Butler, and John C. Spencer, severally addressed the meet- 
ing on the distinguished talents and high professional charac- 
ter of Mr. Williams." 

Signed, " DANIEL CADY, Chairman. 

" Greene C. Brown, Secretary.''^ 

" The following extract from a letter from Mrs. Col. William 
L. Stone, through J. McKinstry, Esq., of Hudson, gives some 
additional particulars in relation to Mr. Williams, which are 
extremely interesting. 1 am much obliged to her for the 
notice, and to Mr. McKinstry for forwarding it to me. CoL 
Stone, while living, was very intimate with Mr. Williams, 
and he intended to have published many facts in relation to 
him, in his " Life and Times of Sir William Johnson," but 
the hand of death arrested him in the midst of his labors, 
just as he had completed about one half of his work, much 
to the regret of the friends of science and humanity through- 
out the country. It is much to be hoped that some dis- 
tinguished historian will take up the subject where Col. Stone 
left it, and complete it. 



ELISHA WILLIAMS. 19 

" Mrs. Stone thinks that her late husband pubhshed an 
obituary notice of Mr. WiUiarns, in his Commercial Adverti- 
ser, but she cannot immediately refer to it. He published 
many of his speeches and addresses before political con- 
ventions, and other assemblages. They met on his way to 
New- York, two days before his decease, and felt that they 
had seen him for the last time. Mr. Williams greeted them 
with all the warmth and cordiality of a parent. 

Mrs. Stone in her letter observes : " You are aware, proba- 
bly, that Mr. Williams did not appear to advantage on paper. 
He often has written to Mr. Stone to write, or requesting him 
to write an article on a specified subject, but never containing 
anything to interest a third party. They always contained 
some friendly greeting, and he always avowed he could not 
write, but that Mr. Stone did it just as he wished it done. 
And 1 have heard my husband say, that when in Hudson, 
and Mr. Williams has wished some article written, he would 
say, I cannot ivrite an article, but I can tell it off fast enough. 
I have often heard Mr. Stone lament most feelingly, that so 
much genius should pass away, and so little tangible traces 
be left of its gifted possessor. How many eloquent appeals 
for the unfortunate have passed away with the breath that 
uttered them, and cannot be gathered up again. Oh, if my 
husband only had embodied his recollections, what a treasure 
such a document would be. Mr. Stone used often to report 
his speeches before the Legislature, which I think would be 
found in the Hudson paper, as he published this paper before 
our marriage, and he made arrangements for remaining. I 
am not acquainted with the paper, but, of course there must 
be files of it in Hudson. However, Mr. Stone always said it 
was impossible for any reporter to do him justice, for unless 
one could have before him his imposing figure, his beautiful 
countenance, beaming with high intellectual effort, and re- 
splendent often with flashes of wit, which seemed to light up 
all the faces around him ; unless the inimitable grace of his 
manners, as unconstrained as those of beautiful infancy, 
together with all the simplicity and earnestness of a true 
heart, it would be impossible to convey one half of the charm 
by which he seemed to hold all his audience, and sway all 
the minds before him, as by one mighty impulse, till they 
saw with his eyes, heard with his ears, and laid their hearts 
as offerings at his feet. 

##**#*###♦ 

" It is with great satisfaction, sir, that I hear that you have 
undertaken the work before you. If it is published, I hope I 
shall have the pleasure of perusing it, and most heartily do 
I wish it were in my power to furnish you with the slightest 
item that would be available in such an undertaking. He 



20 BIOGRAPHY OP 

certainly was the most perfect specimen of intellectual and 
manly beauty I ever beheld." 

" Very respectfully, 

S. P. STOXE. 
"Saratoga Springs, Feh. 10, 1847." 

" Mr. McKinstry in remarking upon this subject says : ' He 
could write well, powerfully and ably. He disliked to spare 
time to do it, but his power of condensation was prodigious.' " 

The above extracts were taken from Stephen W. Wil- 
liams' "Genealogy and History of the Williams Family." 
Other testimonies might be added, but those already given 
are deemed to be sufficient. It will be perceived that we are 
sustained in our opinion as to the merits and superiority of 
Mr. Williams as a jury advocate, not only by the most dis- 
tinguished jurists in this country, but by good judges from the 
other side of the atlantic. 



WILLIAM W. VAN NESS. 21 



WILLIAM W. VAN NESS. 



William W, Van Ness was born at Claverack, in the 
county of Columbia, in 1776, and died at Charleston, South 
Carolina, on the 27th February, 1823, in the forty-eighth 
year of his age. He received his early education in his na- 
tive village, and it was rather limited, not having had the 
advantages of a collegiate education. He studied law with 
John Bay, Esq., of Claverack, and he served a part of the 
term of his clerkship in the city of New- York. He was 
licensed an attorney at the age of twenty-one years, and 
practiced in his native town until he was admitted as coun- 
sellor, when he removed to the city of Hudson, where he 
did a large professional business until the year 1807, when 
he was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court. He was 
elected to the Assembly in 1805. The Federalists were in 
a minority in the House ; they numbered at that time less 
than thirty. At the head of his party his influence was 
greatly felt in the Legislature and in the State. He was also 
a conspicuous member of the Constitutional Convention of 
1821, and took an active part in the deliberations of that 
body, and frequently addressed the convention. 

After he commenced professional business, he very soon 
distinguished himself as a lawyer. His intellectual powers 
reached maturity at an imusually early age. He possessed a 
kind heart and a noble and generous nature, and was uni- 
versally respected and beloved. He was naturally persuasive 
and eloquent, and possessed vigorous and discriminating men- 
tal faculties, and his young mind was filled with lofty aspi- 
rations. He was ambitious and aspiring, and ardent in his 
pursuits, and fond of public life. In his attachments he was 
ardent and sincere, and he possessed a lively imagination and 
was remarkable for his descriptive powers, which exceeded 
those of almost any other man I ever knew. 

He possessed talents and acquirements fitted to adorn the 
most exalted stations. At the head of an executive depart- 
ment of the General Government, he would have shone with 
peculiar brilliancy. He officiated as a Judge of the Supreme 
Court about fifteen years. At the close of his judicial labors 



22 BIOGRAPHY OF 

he opened a law office in the city of New- York, but his heaUh 
soon dechned. He was afflicted with a disease of the dys- 
peptic kind, and he travelled south for the recovery of his 
health. 

He was the ornament of the bar, and the delight of the 
Senate. He died in the prime of life, and in the midst of 
his honors and his usefulness. Reduced by a deceitful and 
unrelenting disease, he sought the southern shores, with the 
only remaining hope of relief. Alas, it was in vain ; the cold 
hand of death fixed upon his vitals, and he breathed his last 
sigh far from the scenes of his triumphs and delights, the 
endearments of home, and the sympathetic condolence of his 
weeping friends, in a land of strangers. Yet he did not go 
down to the grave unhonored and unknown ; every mark of 
high respect, every office of kind and feeling attention which 
generous and enlightened strangers could bestow, were ex- 
tended on this melancholy occasion. And he was highly de- 
serving of the admiration and regard they entertained for 
him ; but only those that were intimately acquainted with 
his character, who knew the magnanimity of his soul, the 
dignity and purity of his public deportment, and the amiable 
virtues of his private life, can fully appreciate his worth. It 
is only those who have listened with admiration at his elo- 
quence, who have been astonished at the vast comprehension 
of his mind on the bench, or have hung with rapture upon 
his words in the Senate, can tell the extent and brilliancy of 
his talents. As an advocate, equally distinguished for the 
splendor of his genius and strength of judgment, he stood at 
an early age in the front rank of his profession. Command- 
ing indeed must have been that eloquence, great and com- 
prehensive that intellect, which could insure to a youth a 
parallel rank with the immortal Hamilton. Respected by 
the court, admired by the jury, and beloved by all, he was a 
fine example of eloquence without vanity, power without 
tyrany, and virtue without weakness. The integrity of his 
private character, and the purity of his public conduct, were 
only equalled by the urbanity of his manners and the amia- 
bleness of his temper. Called to the bench at an age when 
but few are fitted for t\ie bar, he gave no less stability to the 
one than he had imparted celebrity to the other. Imperishable 
are the monuments of his wisdom in the luminous opinions 
he pronounced, never to be forgotten ; his regard for justice in 
the decisions which he made, impartial in the administration 
of the law, the proud were restrained by his sanctions, the 
humble protected by its care. Discriminating in the elicita- 
tion of truth, no sophistry could withstand, no art elude his 
intuitive penetration. The mysterious windings of corrupt- 
ion stood at once unravelled and exposed in his eagle glance. 
Justj yet merciful ; dignified, but not austere; the exercise of his 



WILLIAM W. VAN NESS. 23 

judicial functions, increased the admiration and strengthened 
the cofidence of the people ; and when he resigned a seat, 
over which he had thrown such imperishable lustre, he carried 
with him the love and veneration of the bar, the deep regret of 
the court, and the affectionate sympathy of his fellow-citizens. 
Unused to inactive life, he had resumed the practice of the 
law. Wonderful change ! where once he held the sceptre, he 
stood the suppliant ; the presiding divinity of the temple was 
transformed into an inferior minister at its altars ; when na- 
ture, as if indignant at the outrage, translated him into another 
and a better world. 

While we mourn over the interesting ties that have been 
severed by his death, and drop a tear over the ruins of 
that august tribunal of which he was a member, we can al- 
most rejoice that he has not survived its glory ; and that he 
ceased to live when the splendor of its learning, the majesty 
of its power, the purity of its justice, and the beautiful har- 
mony of its decisions, were prostrated at the foot of a blind 
and infimated persecution. 

D. D. Barnard, LL. D., of Albany, after eulogising the 
talents of Richard Harrison, Brockholst Livingston, Edward 
Livingston, Aaron Burr, Josiah Ogden Hoffman, Abraham 
Van Vechten, and others, remarked that William W. Van 
Ness was the rarest genius of them all. "In 1807," he 
says, " he took the place of Judge Livingston, and that he was 
a man of wonderful ability, and that he seemed to know every 
thing that was necessary for a man and judge to know, and 
yet it was difficult to tell how he came by his knowledge. 
Nothing he ever said or did seemed to cost him any effort, yet 
there was a power and a strength in his intellectual movements 
which every body felt who witnessed them. It was not a 
power that awed any body ; it was gentle, unpretending, un- 
conscious, but it was resistless ; and this high intellectual 
power was joined to a sweetness of temper and a kindness, 
along with a native dignity of manner, which cast a nameless 
grace and charm about him, that made his presence felt as a 
spell on all who came within its influence. And who can 
now think of the brilliant and noble hearted Van Ness, as he 
moved among his brethren of the judiciary and the bar, ad- 
mired and loved of all, seemingly as pure in spirit and in 
purpose as he was gigantic in his intellectual proportions, and 
think how he was finally cut down by a cruel wound, inflict- 
ed on his sensitive nature ; the victim not of offence, but of 
appearances ; not of wrong even meditated, much less done, 
but of the disinterested, yet too inconsiderate zeal and service 
of a friend. Who can think of him, without mingling with the 
admiration which his character so strongly inspires, a feeling 
of sadness, of oppression and sickness of the heart, for a fate 
so severe and undeserved ?" 



24 BIOGRAPHY OF 

Mr. Van Ness was the first president of the Columbra 
County Bible Society, and sustained that office for several 
years. The directors often met at his house for consultation 
in relation to the interests of the society, which he sustained 
with all the energy of his character. The anniversaries of 
that society were cheered and made efficient by his skillful 
presidency and his bursts of sacred eloquence. 

His remains were brought from Charleston and buried in 
his native soil. The writer recently visited his grave, which 
is in the church yard at Claverack. A plain and simple stone 
pointed to the spot where his sacred relics sleep ; and as I 
bent over his dust, my heart was filled with sadness and 
sorrow at the severe and unmerited fate of one of Jhe greatest 
men that Columbia ever knew. 

The following was taken from the New- York Statesman v 

" We are requested by a correspondent and friend of the late 
Judge Van Ness, to publish the sentence of death pronounced 
by that eloquent and upright Judge upon Todd, Conckling, 
Dunning and Hodges, convicted of murder at the Supreme 
Court in Orange county, in the spring of 1819. Our corres- 
pondent observes, that it may be said of Judge Van Ness, as 
of Hamilton and Ames, ' the best eulogium that can be pro- 
nounced, is to give his own words.' He has gone down to 
the tomb, and the animosities of his political enemies (he had 
no others) are buried with him in the dust ; but his talents 
and virtues will long be remembered by those who knew him 
in his most endearing character, the man of feeling and phi- 
lanthropy. We have not room to insert the whole of the pa- 
per before us. After pronouncing the awful sentence, he 
addressed the prisoners as follows : 

" And here my duty as an officer of the court ends ; but as 
a man and a christian, I feel that I have other duties to per- 
form. I wish to sympathize with you. I want to awaken 
you to a just sense of your situation. I wish to awake the 
nerve where agony is born. I wish to draw nigh to you in 
the agony of kindred souls, about to be separated forever. I 
wish to point you to an hereafter. Is death an eternal sleep ? 
Oh, no : a secret voice within assures us we shall never die. 
I want to speak to you of life, and judgment, and immortali- 
ty — I want to speak to you of God's redeeming love. I want 
to arouse you to a sense of your own lost and ruined state. 
I want to point you to the cross of Christ, that Christ who 
suffered an ignominious death for us. I want to speak to you 
of God and his Providence. I want to direct you to a saving 
knowledge of Jesus Christ. I want to assure you of his 
power and willingness to save all who approach him through 
faith and repentance — "Though your sins be like scarlet, 



WILLIAM W. VAN NESS, 25 

they shall become white as snow ; though they be red like 
cnmson, they shall become as wool." 

" Your crimes will be attended with the most dreadful con- 
sequences ; humanity will weep over the scene. You have 
brought desolation into all your families. No less than three 
widows, and how many little ones I know not, will in a 
single moment mourn their loss. You have cast a stain upon 
your posterity. Ignominy and shame will attend your help- 
less children through the whole course of their mortal exist- 
ence. Can mortal man be in a more awful situation, than 
that in which you are now placed ? Your anger has been 
cruel indeed- 

" My friends, if I can awaken in you one good sentiment^ 
my labor will not be in vain; but if 1 can go one step farther, 
if I can make you realise your awful situation, if I can in- 
duce you to think of eternity, my mind will be relieved of a 
heavy burthen. Is it not so? You have but a day to live, 
the hour of your death is fixed. Is it not then your interest 
and your duty seriousl)'- to reflect, and earnestly to devote 
the remainder of your time on earth in solemn devotion to 
your God? It is but a little while. That saviour who has 
died for you and me, will extend the arms of his merciful 
kindness ; and remember, that when the trump of God shall 
sound, the graves of the dead will be opened, and when 
your graves are opened, the grave of Richard Jennings will 
also be opened, and he will be your accuser before that Judge 
who cannot be deceived. Let me conjure you for that event, 
to improve the few remaining days you have to live, in 
striving to secure an interest in Jesus ; there is no other hope ; 
his blood alone can cleanse you. Call to your assistance 
the pious ministers of our holy religion, pray with them, and 
let them pray for you. and endeavor to reconcile yourselves 
to God, 

'•' In the course of your trials, Jack has been a principal 
witness against three of you ; although you have not been 
convicted on his testimony alone, still you may harbor some 
resentment against him ; but remember you are to die, and if 
you expect forgiveness hereafter, you must not only extend 
forgiveness to him, but to all men. Strive to cultivate a for- 
giving disposition, extend forgiveners to all your fellow crea- 
tures, and especially to the unfortunate man who stands by 
your side. 

" Let me entreat you to procure faith. Let no earthly cares 
divert your attention from a future state. Say not to evil 
" be thou my good," for there is still hope in your case. 
Strive earnestly to attain an inheritance eternal and immortal. 

" With respect to you. Jack, you are an ignorant black man ; 
you have not been favored with any of the advantages of 
education. You however possess a more than ordinary 
strength of mind. Providence has blessed you with a memory 



26 BIOGRAPHY OF 

without parallel in all my experience. You have been the 
means in the hands of Providence, to bring to light this first 
instance in the State of New- York, where a murder has been 
committed by an hired assassin. You have been the degra- 
ded and wicked instrument, and justice requires that you 
should be made an example to the community. 

" To close. This is a scene which has cast a gloom over 
a large portion of the community ; all are solemnized, and I 
hope all will profit by the lesson which it affords ; although 
going to law is sometimes necessary and proper, still let all 
reflect on the consequences attendant on an indulgence of the 
bitter and malignant feelings excited by long protracted liti- 
gations, for unless curbed by the better feelings of our nature, 
they always eventuate in crime. Let every one reflect that 
it is one of the first duties we owe to society, to endeavor to 
detect crime, and unless examples are made, detection is 
useless. 

" This is the first time murder has been committed in this 
county since the revolution. It is remarkable that murder 
rarely, nay nev.u- escapes detection. God's ways are not as 
our ways. There is a providence in this thing. Various ar- 
tifices have been resorted to, in order to conceal this murder, 
false witnesses have been enlisted, and no stone left unturned ; 
but he who rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm, has 
in a wonderful manner brought it to light, and oft times the 
very means used to conceal the fact, leads to detection. 

" I speak not to reproach you with your crimes. I feel for 
you. I point you to immortality. God is merciful as well as 
just. By repentance and faith you may gain a seat at his 
right hand ; and if you can obtain a hope in Christ, your few 
remaining days, so far from being the gloomiest, may yet be 
ihe happiest of your lives ; and when you mount the gallows, 
be enabled triumphantly to exclaim, " O death, where is thy 
sting ? O grave, where is thy victory?" May God Almighty 
have mercy on your souls." 

At a meeting of the members of the bar for Columbia county, 
held at the court-house, in the city of Hudson on Saturday 
the 22d of March 1823. On motion of Elisha Williams, 
Esquire, A. L. Jordan, Esquire, Recorder of the city, was called 
to the chair, and on motion of Joseph D. Monell, Esquire, 
David Van Schaack, Esquire, was appointed secretary. 

The meeting being organized. Aaron Vanderpoel, Esquire, 
moved the succeeding resolutions, after concluding the fol- 
lowing address : 

"Mr. Chairman — The occasion upon which we have met 
is one of mournful and melancholy interest. Young as I am, 
and surrounded by so meny abler and more eloquent eulo- 
gists, the remembrance of a faithful friend and patron, cut 



WILLIAM W. VAN NESS. 27 

down in the full vigor of life, and a wide career of usefulness ; 
the recollection of so much native genius, learning, virtue, 
patriotism and benevolence, swallowed with him by the 
grave, while it constrains me to pay a feeble tribute to his 
memory, awakens emotions in my breast, which naught but 
the inspiration of the poet is competent to express. 

"It is not with giddy heads and merry hearts to celebrate 
the triumph of a favorite party, or the anniversary of some 
proud national event, that we have assembled ; it is for a 
more solemn, and less intoxicating purpose. It is to pay a 
debt of respect to a departed friend and professional brother, 
which his transccndant worth and genius has created, and 
which the ' grim messenger' has so lately made payable. 

" Though the occasion be rendered sad by the stroke of 
death, the brightness of the picture which it summons before 
the mind's eye mingles much pleasure with our sorrow. To 
expatiate upon the excellencies of the illustrious dead, is an 
occupation pleasing to the heart of friendship, due to the 
worthies whose virtues are pourtrayed, and profitable to a 
people like us, whose integrity is their political salvation, and 
whose character depends much upon the influence of ex- 
ample. 

" Our county has to mourn the loss of two of her noblest 
sons; men to whom not only she, but the State and the na- 
tion might be proud to have given birth. The nation had 
not ceased to mourn over the disastrous fate of the gallant and 
immortal Allen, before the grief of his native county was 
swelled higher by the sorrowful tidings of another of her 
worthies occupying his narrow tenement in a distant soil — 
far from his friends and his home. 

"It is not in my power, nor is it my purpose to delineate 
in all their dazzling splendor the brilliant traits that make up 
the character of our lamented friend. To paint genius to the 
life, one must feel all its force. Yet however imperfect the 
sketch, it cannot be void of interest when it relates to those 
' who were born, and ivho have acted as though they were 
born for their country and for mankind.^ 

"Judge Van Ness was a native ol this county, and born 
in the year 1776. His early opportunities to embellish his 
mind with classical learning were quite limited, having never 
been favored with collegiate advantages. At an early age 
he commenced the study of the law with a respectable coun- 
sellor of this county. Part of the term of his legal clerkship 
he served in the office of the present illustrious Chancellor, 
who then practised in the city of New- York. At the age of 
twenty-one, he was licensed as an attorney, and practised in 
his native town, until after he was adnfitted to the degree of 
counsellor, when he moved to the city of Hudson, where he 
remained in full and lucrative practice until the year 1807 ; 



28 BIOGRAPHY OF 

when under the administration of Governor Lewis he was 
appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of this State. 

" Though but comparatively a youth, when entrusted with 
the high and responsible office of Judge, he had already se- 
cured to himself an enviable measure of professional fame. 
His reputation as an advocate, or as is vulgarly called ' a jury 
lawyer,' was at that time eminent beyond all parallel in the 
State. The various rencounters between him and a profes- 
sional brother [Elisha Williams] must, according to the ac- 
counts of those who witnessed them, have afforded some of 
the most interesting exhibitions of forensic talent. Those 
who know both men must feel assured, that upon such occa- 
sons, genius must have burst forth in all her variegated 
aspects. Here eloquence could give her proudest specimens, 
and often exhibit her brightest laurels. The one, with 
smooth and mellifluous accents, with chaste and elegant 
simplicity, winning the hearts and judgments of the jury ; the 
other brandishing with terrible effect the many edged sword 
of argument, vehemence, wit, imagination and satire. 

" The then unsettled state of titles in his native county, and 
his participation in all the most important controversies that 
were agitated, not only made him familiar with the abstruse 
law concerning real estate, but soon put in requisition all his 
powers by bringing him in contact or association with the 
most brilliant lights of the law that graced his early day. 
He was soon beloved and admired by Hamilton. That great 
and immortal man was heard to say, that he ever derived re- 
lief and pleasure from association with him in professional 
avocations. It was in the famous trial of Croswell, that Ha- 
milton, the pride of America, fully perceived and openly ac- 
knowledged the strength of his young associate. Here was a 
patriotic struggle for the liberty of the press. The great and 
long fluctuating question whether the truth could be given in 
evidence and form a justification, where imputations affecting 
character are published with good motives and justifiable 
ends, was here discussed, and 'tis said the argument of Mr. 
Van Ness was ingenious and powerful beyond what could 
have been expected from his early age. You, sir, can bear 
witness that his native county has always been vocal with the 
praise of his early professional efforts. 

" As a Judge and a Jurist he was ever preeminent. With 
a mind naturally acute and discriminating, he at once seized 
the true 'point of the cause, and in weighing testimony or the 
relative merity of the arguments of counsel, he was ever 
ready and able to determine what was pertinent and control- 
ing, and to separate the chaff of sophistry from the grain of 
sound logic. He was not ambitious to appear in print, and 
has not therefore left to us many of his judicial opinions. 
But the few that do appear are rare specimens of judicial 



WILLIAM W. VAN NESS. 29 

talent. They are distinguished by a perspicuity of style, an 
original felicity of illustration, and (whenever the occasion 
would justify it) a winning pathos that captivates and rivets 
the attention of the reader. The dry and frigid character that 
renders legal composition so proverbially appalling, is never 
felt in reading his opinions. There is in his manner of treat- 
ing a legal subject, a peculiar and caj)tivaling something, 
which, instead of inspiring the reader with erumi, rivets hun 
to it with enchantment. 

"But it was not at term that his worth was vaosX conspicu- 
ous. At Nisi-P7'ius his greatness was most resplendent. 
There, in his charges to the jury, and his melting appeals to 
the hardened culprit, about to be consigned to the prison or 
the gallows, might be seen developed the resources of his 
original and comprehensive mind. I have seen desperate and 
hard hearted villany melt and tremble under his pathetic ap- 
peals. I have read of pathos in books upon rhetoric, but 
never have I heard it so successfully exemplified as by the 
subject of this memoir. Not forgetting the feelings of the 
man in the severe duties of the judge, he often gave proof 
unequivocal, that he felt as well as spoke. In causes where 
life was at stake, where cruelty was to receive its just retribu- 
tion, and where the assassin of reputation was to be reproved 
by the verdict of the jury, I have heard break from him strains 
of eloquence potent as electricity. I would not derogate from 
the reputation of the eminent Judges with whom he was as- 
sociated — but I know that thei/ would unitedly contend, that 
in charging a jury he had no equal, neither in this State nor 
this country. 

"But there was, in his judicial character, another trait that 
greatly enhanced his official worth : I mean his encouraging 
liberality and tenderness to young men in their first efibrts at 
the bar. There was a time, when, owing to the captious- 
ness of judges and the inaccessible loftiness of the bench, the 
business of the term and the circuit, was monopolized by a 
few old and eminent counsellors. Judge Van Ness has done 
most to break down this aristocracy of old lawyers. With 
the characteristic urbanity and condescension of the ?na?i, 
which detracted not from the dignity, but rather elevated the 
character ot the judge, he soon dissipated that halo of false 
glory and lordliness, which, while it encircled the bench, had 
awed the young man into silence. 

" His domestic and social virtues were as exemplary, as his 
judicial and professional talents were resplendent. His con- 
versation, always rich and instructive, with a fertile imagina- 
tion, chastened and tempered by a sound judgment, with a 
mind richly stored with general reading, a memory peculiarly 
retentive and replete with most interesting anecdote, and with 
colloquial powers most felicitous — he was, take him all in all 



30 BIOGRAPHY OF 

the most agreeable and instuctive companion I ever knew. 
As a friend, no one was ever more ardent or sincere. If in 
his character there was one fault, it was the acutejiess of his 
feelings. In causes that were calculated to excite the sensi- 
bilities of our nature, his emotions have perhaps sometimes 
betrayed him from the cold path that it becomes the judge to 
pursue. 

" This, sir, is a faint sketch of the man, whose worth we 
have met this day to commemorate ; may we never forget 
him nor cease to emulate his worthy example. His bones 
repose in the bosom of a distant state, but the memory of his 
virtues will long he fresh and green in the midst of us. Let 
the grief of his bereaved relatives be assuaged by the assu- 
rance, that the sons of Columbia will fondly cherish the 
remembrance of his virtues, and that there will ever be found 
among them many a faithful Achates, ready and able to 
vindicate his fair fame. The proceedings of this day aflbrd 
an ample pledge, that as we loved and revered him in his 
lifetime, so in death we will faithfully guard and protect his 
ilhistrious memory." 

E. Williams, Esquire, on seconding the resolutions, sub- 
mitted, in substance, the following remarks : 

" My heart is full of grief. I have lost, in him, whose 
death we lament, one of Heaven's greatest gifts to man — an 
affectionate, disinterested friend. The ligaments, which unite 
kindred hearts, are nourished with the issues of the vital 
fountain. 

" We all mourn this deep affliction. Our common friend 
has been summoned to another and a better world. He was 
indeed the pride, the ornament, the patron of our bar. How 
often has he animated and admonished those Mdio now hear 
me, to strive for honorable profession. How has he encou- 
raged the retiring, timid youth ; how pruned the luxuriant 
shoots of genius, careful to detect, and faithful to disclose to 
each his errors. 

" The heart of our brother was a stranger to that jealousy 
which narrow minds feel at a rival's success. His soul exulted 
in the rising fame, and increasing prosperity of his profes- 
sional brethren. The honor of the bar he considered as the 
jtroi^erty of the State— and he who contributed most to swell 
this common fund, he regarded as the greatest public bene- 
factor. 

" Careless of the acquisition of wealth, he has left little of 
it to his bereaved family. But he has left to them and to 
posterity, a legacy more valuable than riches, more durable 
than marble. 



WILLIAM W. VAN NESS. 31 

"Let US, while deploring this atlhctive providence, profit 
by his bright example. Let us, upon tlie altar of friendship^ 
as over his urn, and in the presence of his departed spirit, 
swear, that \ve will, like hinr, tenderly respect, and allbction- 
ately nourish each brothers fame, and become mutual help- 
mates in our professional career. Let us remember too, tliat 
soon, very soon, we may be called to unite our spirits with 
his — and that character — a character, which enobles the 
dead, and rebukes the living — is all that is valuable that will 
be left of us on this side of the grave. 

" Resolved, That we lament the death of the Honorable 
William W. Van Ness, who as a judge adorned the bench, 
as an advocate was the pride, not only of his native county 
but of the state ; and as a man, endeared to his friends by 
his public and private virtues. 

" Resolved, That the members of the bar of Columbia 
county wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days. 

^^ Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be signed 
by the Chairman and Secretary, and published in the news- 
papers printed in this city, 

A. L. JORDAN, Chairman:' 

David Van Schaack, Secretary.'''' 



32 



BIOGRAPHY OF 



JOHN P. VAN NESS. 



The Van Ness family, viz : John P. Van Ness, William 
P. Van Ness, and Cornelius P. Van Ness, is one of the 
most distinguished and talented famihes in this country, and 
are sons of Peter Van Ness, are cousins of the nohle heart- 
ed and brilUant William W. Van Ness. 

John P. Van Ness was born in the town of Ghent, formerly 
Claverack, in the county of Columbia, on the place where 
Mr. Hoifnian now resides, in the year 1770, and died at the city 
of Washington, March, L84{3, at the age of seventy-six years. 
He was educated at Columbia College, in the city of New- York, 
and studied law in that city, in the office of Brockholdst 
Livingston. At the age of about twenty-two years he com- 
menced the practice of law in Columbia county, but was soon 
compelled to abandon it on account of epileptic fits. 

In the year 1801, he was elected to Congress from the dis- 
trict composed of the counties of Columbia and Rensselaer. 
In 1802 he was married to a very interesting, accomplished 
and wealthy lady of the city of Washington, and as her for- 
tune consisted principally of real estate in that city, he fixed 
his residence there until his death. 

He was appointed by President .Terferson, Brigadier General 
of the militia of the District of Colombia, and was aftei- 
wards promoted by President Madison to the rank of Major 
General, which office he held for many years. He was for 
several successive years elected Mayor of the city of Wash- 
ington, when he declined a reelection. Through his influ- 
ence the Bank of the JMetropolis in the city of Washington, 
was established ; he was the first president of that institution, 
and remained so until the time of his death. He possessed a 
high order of talents, and was a man of great personal influ- 
ence. For the last forty years of his life he was extensively 
known and celebrated for his liberality and hospitality ; many 
of the churches, and the Temperance Hall in the city of 
Washington, was erected on grounds dven by him for that 
purpose. During his long residence m that city, he had 
formed numerous acquaintances. Few men had more devoted 
friends, and his death was greatly deplored by the people of 
the American capital, his friends, and his country. 



WILLIAM P. VAN NESS. 33 



WILLIAM R VAN NESS. 



William P. Van Ness was bom about the year 1778, on 
the same place in Ghent, formerly Claverack, where his 
brother John P. Van Ness was borru 

He was educated at Columbia College, in the city of New- 
York, and studied law in that city, in the office of Edward 
Livingston. He commenced the practice of law in the same 
city about the year 1800, and pursued the business of his 
profession there, until he was appointed Judge of the United 
States district court, for the southern district of New- York, by 
President Madison. He died instantaneously, in the city of 
New-York, it is believed of apoplexy, when apparently in a 
state of good health, on the the sixth day of September, 1826. 

He was a man of transcendent talents ; few men, in or out 
of this country, possessed equal powers of mind. He was an 
able, subtle and ingenious legal practitioner, and he did, for 
many years, a large professional business in the city of New- 
York, until his appointment as a Judge of the United States 
District Court ; and he was also equally distinguished for the 
vast comprehensiveness of his mind on the bench, and for his 
correct judicial opinions. He was an able and energetic po- 
litical writer, and is the author of the celebrated pamphlet 
entitled "Aristides," which he wrote when quite a young 
man. 

Mr. Hammond says, in his Political History of New-York, 
that " William P. Van Ness was one of the most shrewd and 
sagacious men that the State of New- York has ever produced. 
In speaking of his pamphlet he says, it was written with 
great talent, and, as a political writer, his style is unrivalled 
■since the days of Junius." 



34 BIOGRAPHY OF 



CORNELIUS P. VAN NESS. 



Cornelius P. Van Ness, was bom on the 26th of Jantiary-y 
1782, on the place where ex-president Van Buren now resides. 
He was fitted for college and prepared to enter the junior 
class of Columbia College at the age of fifteen years, as both 
of his brothers had done at about the same age, but he had 
resolved not to study a profession, and therefore determined 
not to pursue a collegiate course ; his father consented to his 
determination. At the age of eighteen years he changed his 
purpose, and entered as a law student, the office of his brother 
William P. Van Ness, who was then engaged in the prac- 
tice of law in the city of New- York. Martin Van Buren 
was in the same office one year, during his clerkship with his 
brother. He was admitted to the bar in 1804, and in the 
spring of 1806 he emigrated to the State of Vermont, and 
fixed his residence at St. Albans, which is about twenty 
miles from the Canada frontier, and is the county town of 
the north westermost county in the state ; there he commenced 
the practice of the law. In 1809 he removed to Burlington, 
the largest and most important town in the State of Vermont, 
for the purpose of pursuing his profession. He continued to 
practice law with some intermission, in that town, until 1829. 
In the autumn of 1809, he was appointed by President Madi- 
son, United States District Attorney for the district of Vermont, 
which office he held until the spring of 1813, when he re- 
signed this office for the more important one of Collector of 
the Customs for the same district. Both of these last named 
offices were very important ones during the time he held 
them, which embraced the period of the restrictive system, 
and the war with Great Britain. The frontier betwixt Ver- 
mont and Canada was the principal resort for smuglers and 
traders during the war. 

In the spring of 1816, he was appointed by President 
Madison a commissioner under the 5th Article of the Treaty 
of Ghent, to settle, in conjunction with a commissioner on 
the part of Great Britain, the Northeastern Boundary line. 
It is well known that the commissioners disagreed, and gave 
separate opinions, which were afterwards submitted to the 
King of the Netherlands for his award, but the dispute was 



CORNELIUS P. VAN NESS. 35 

never settled until the treaty, concluded by Mr. Webster and 
Ijord Ashburton. In the year 1829, he was appointed by 
President Jackson Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extra- 
ordinary to Spain. After an absence of ten years from his 
native country, he returned to the State of Vermont, where he 
remained about two years. In 1841, he returned to his native 
State, and formed his residence in the city of New- York, 
where it has since remained, although he has been compelled 
by business to spend much of his time in Washington. In 
1844, he was appointed by President Tyler collector of the 
port of New- York, which office he held one year. 

Under the State government he has held the following 
offices, viz : 

In 1818, he was elected a member of the General Assembly 
■of the State for the town of Burlington, and was re-elected 
the three following years. During the last year of his legis- 
lative service (1821,) he was appointed Justice of the Supreme 
Court of the State of Vermont ; this office he held for two 
years, when he was elected Governor ; he filled the executive 
chair three years, having been twice reelected, when in 1826, 
lie declined a reelection and returned to the practice of 
his profession, which he always had done after leaving 
every office which was incompatible with the proper dis- 
charge of his professional duties. He pursued the practice 
of the law until he was appointed Minister to Spain. I 
would here mention, that during the first year of his legisla- 
tive service, two private banks were incorporated, the first in 
the State, principally through his influence and exertions. 
One of them was located at Burlington ; he was its first presi- 
dent, and remained so until he was appointed Chief Justice of 
the State, when he resigned. He was appointed Postmaster 
at Burlington in 1809, by Gideon Granger, Postmaster Gene- 
ral, during President Madison's administration. 

Mr. Van Ness possessed talents of a high order, and he 
occupied for a long time a large space in the public mind. 
He left his native county in early life in pursuit of fortune 
and fame, and his exertions have been crowned with success. 
His life has been very active ; few men have performed as 
much mental labor. He soon attained to eminence in his 
profession in the State of Vermont, where he emigrated, and 
was elevated to the executive chair of that State, after having 
filled many other important offices. In reviewing the offices 
he has held in both the state and general government, it will 
be perceived that his has been a very celebrated and glorious 
career. The numerous civil and diplomatic stations that he 
has filled, shows in what high estimation he was held by 
some of the most distinguished men that have ever admin- 
istered the executive government of the United States. My 
heart swells with emotions of county pride in tracing the pro- 
gress of this distinguished son of Columbia. 



36 BIOGRAPHY OF 



PETER VAN SCHAACK. 



Peter Van Schaack was born at Kinderhook, in March^ 
1747, and was the youngest of seven children. About two 
years previous to his entering upon his collegiate course, he 
was placed under the care and instruction of the Rev. Richard 
Charlton, on Staten Island. It was under his rigid instruc- 
tion that Mr. Van Schaack laid the foundation for that tho- 
rough acquaintance with the Latin language, which rendered 
him in subsequent life probably one of the best Latin scholars 
in the State. In 1762, being then in his sixteenth year of his 
age, he entered the freshman class in Kings College, in the 
city of New- York. This was an eventful era in his life ; it 
was here that he formed an interesting and valuable ac- 
quaintance with John Jay, Egbert Benson, Richard Harrison, 
Governeur Morris, Robert R. Livingston, and many other 
eminent men, whose enviable reputation now constitute the 
richest property of their country ; between the four first named 
individuals and Mr. Van Schaack the greatest intimacy ex- 
isted, and an uninterrupted friendship through life. Having 
finished a regular collegiate course at Kings College, he com- 
menced the study of the law in the spring of 1766, in the office 
of Peter Sylvester, of Albany ; he remained with this gentle- 
man about eighteen months, when he went to the city of 
New- York, and entered the office of William Smith, the histo- 
rian, and one of the most eminent lawyers of that day. At 
the January term of the Supreme Court of 1769, he was 
licensed to practice as an attorney in that court. Shortly 
after his admission at the bar, he opened an office in Cedar- 
street, and he soon found a rapidly increasing business en- 
trusted to his charge. In 1773 he was appoirited to the im- 
portant and responsible office of collecting and revising the 
statute laws of the Colony of New- York ; the execution of this 
work was entrusted to him alone. 

In the month of May, 1775, Mr. Van Schaack removed his 
family to Kinderhook, and he did not afterwards return to the 
city to reside ; ill health and the threatening aspect of public 
affairs, and the recent shedding of American blood at Lex- 
ington, unquestionably had considerable influence on his sen- 
sitive mind : but if public considerations did not affect his 



PETER VAN SCHAACK. 37 

removal to the country, the city of New- York soon became 
such as to render a return to it not very desirable. Mr. Van 
Schaack had suspended professional business during the strug- 
gle for independence ; the reputation he had acquired before 
the revoluion had placed him in a high rank in his profession. 
He was in Europe during the revolution. On his return, his 
office was soon filled with clients, and he soon attained to 
great eminence in his profession. He was a learned lawyer, 
of the old school, and a man of distinguished talents. 

He studied law at the same time, or was the companion of 
John Jay, Egbert Benson, Chancellor Livingston, and other 
distinguished jurists of the past age. During his residence 
in England, he attended the Courts of Westminister Hall, and 
had an opportunity of hearing Lord Mansfield, and other 
eminent English jurists. He was a sound and logical rea- 
soner, and he had great influence with a court and jury ; he 
was for many years one of the most distinguished members 
of the Columbia county bar, and no man could be more ad- 
mired, honored and beloved by the members that composed 
the bar of this county at that time. Few lawyers investiga- 
ted a cause more effectual ly and thoroughly ; he not only 
established his own propositions by legal deductions and 
authority, but anticipated and obviated every objection of his 
adversary. His briefs were models of deep research and 
learning, and frequently of classic elegance. Mr. Van 
Schaack was employed in many important causes in the 
county of Columbia, and he greatly excelled in the trial of 
causes where title to real estate was involved. His opinions 
and other papers on legal subjects, were always drawn up with 
logical precision, and in a style of peculiar purity and ele- 
gance. These accomplishments, so rare in the legal profession, 
and so ornamental when possessed in connection with his 
profound knowledge of the law, procured for him from Co- 
lumbia College the honorary degree of LL. D. As early as 
the year 1792, his sight had become so much impaired as to 
render necessary the employment of an amanuensis. In 
December, 1791, he wrote to his friend Theodore Sedgwick, 
that his epistolary pleasures were at an end ; yet he did 
write some letters with his own hand after this period, and a 
volume would not contain those he wrote by the friendly 
hand of others, and he was a neat and elegant letter writer. 
He continued, however, in the active practice of his profession 
for twenty years afterwards, (by which time he had become 
almost entirely blind.) He kept a celebrated law school at 
Kinderhook, and many young men were educated there, that 
have since distinguished themselves at the bar of this state. 
Nearly a hundred young men have served all, or a part of 
their terms of clerkship, under his immediate charge and in- 
struction. His qualifications as a teacher of the science of 



38 BIOGRAPHY OP 

law has commanded unusual respect and confidence with 
gentlemen of the profession. 

Among the distinguished jurists who have testified their 
high estimation of those endowments by placing their sons 
under his charge for legal instruction, were Theodore Sedg- 
wick, Rufus King, William W. Van Ness, James Kent and 
Ambrose Spencer. Mr. Van Schaack retained his relish for 
th3 Latin language through life ; and a dish of Latin before 
breakfast, was a very common indulgence for some time after 
he had reached three score and ten. Mr. Van Schaack was 
extremely partial to the writers of the Augustan age ; of these 
Vn-gil was his favorite, he could repeat many of the eclogues 
and a great portion of the iEucid, and the minutest parts of 
the story he committed to memory. So also he would recite 
large portions of the odes and epistles of Horace, and of the 
orations of Cicero, in the original. He was a great admirer 
of the English poets and prose writers, and more especially 
of Milton, Shakspeare and Pope. Mr. Van Schaack survived 
his friend Mr. Jay, three years ; but his life, after this period, 
was one of uniform retirement. Until about six weeks pre- 
vious to his death, his bodily health was uncommonly good 
for a person of his advanced age, and his mind was equally 
vigorous. He died at Kinderhook on the 27th day of Sep- 
tember, 1832 ; his name will be transmitted to posterity. 

The following obituary notice of Peter Van Schaack was 
published in the New-York American : 

"Peter Van Schaack died at Kinderhook on the I7th of 
September, upwards of eighty-five years of age, an accurate 
and learned lawyer of the old school. He was educated in 
New-York, before the Revolutionaiy war, and was the fellow 
student or companion of John Jay, Egbert Benson, Chancel- 
lor Livingston, Richard Harrison, and other venerable and 
excellent civilians of a past age. He attended the courts of 
Westminster Hall in the early part of his life, and witnessed 
the display of genius, learning, and eloquence of Lord Mans- 
field, and other illustrious sages of the English law. He 
was distinguished for classical scholarship, for purity and 
elegancy of taste, and for profound knowledge of the English 
Common Law. It may be said of him with perfect truth, 
that he was the model of a lawyer, a scholar, and a gentle- 
man. For more than twenty years, he was afliicted with 
total blindness, and lived in retirement at his seat in Kinder- 
hook; imparting legal instruction to a few pupils, and sup- 
porting himself under his severe privation in unabated cheer- 
fulness, upon the treasures of a memory enriched with ancient 
and modern literature, and thoroughly familiar with the 
beauty and sublimity of Milton and blind Moconides." 



THOMAS P. GROSVENOR. 39 



THOMAS P. GROSVENOR. 



Honorable Thomas P. Grosvenor, of Hudson, was 
bom in 1780. He graduated at Yale College in 1800 ; that 
institution was then under the care of the late president 
Knight ; he entered as a law student in that year, the office 
of his brother-in-law, the late Elisha Williams, in the village 
of Spencertowu, Columbia county, and was admitted to prac- 
tice at the bar in the fall of 1803. He first settled in Kaats- 
kili, Greene county; he afterwards removed to Hudson, where 
he formed a copartnership with Thomas Bay, in the practice 
of law. He was elected to the Assembly from this county, 
and it is believed he was reelected, and was in the Assembly 
in 1811. In the fall of 1812, he was elected to Congress from 
Cohmibia county, to fill a vacancy, and was twice reelected. 
In 1815, he married Mary Jane Hanson, and settled in Balti- 
more, where he engaged in professional business ; she died 
after six months marriage. He survived her about fifteen 
months. 

Mr. Grosvenor was an accomplished scholar, and he was 
distinguished for the strength and vigor of his intellectual 
powers. He was a clear and logical reasoner, and an able, 
ready and powerful debater, and the House of Representatives 
has often resounded with the bursts of his eloquence. He was 
a learned and profound lawyer and an eloquent advocate ; and 
had attained to a high rank in his profession before his remo- 
val from Hudson, and he left this city amidst feelings of uni- 
versal regret ; few men had more sincere and devoted friends. 

Mr. Grosvenor was not only a distinguished lawyer, but he 
was an eminent statesman, and Columbia has always been 
proud of this able and faithful representative. He was a 
member of congress during a period of great excitement, and 
he took a conspicuous part in the debates in the House at 
that time, and distinguished himself on several occasions. 
He opposed the passage of the bill authorizing the enlistment 
of minors and apprentices to fill up the army. HJ.s speech 
delivered on that occasion was one of the ablest ever made in 
the House of Representatives. We regret that we have not 
been able to obtain a copy of that able speech ; had we suc- 
ceeded in obtaining one, we intended to give extracts from it. 



40 BIOGRAPHY OF 

We give the following obituary notice of Mr. Grosvenofy 
which was published in the late Baltimore Federal Repub- 
lican. His character was very justly and eloquently por- 
trayed by the writer. 

" It is with no ordinary sensibility that we commit to our 
obituary the name of the Hon. Thomas P. Grosvenor. He 
died at the seat of the Hon. Judge Hanson, in the thirty-eighth 
year of his age. During the last session of Congress, he was 
seized with an affection of his chest, which was thought by 
the physicians to be desperate and malignant. NeverthelesSj 
hopes were entertained, from the excellence of his constitutioUj 
that his life might be still spared to his country and his 
friends. These hopes gained additional confirmation from 
the protracted character of his malady, until a very short pe- 
riod before his decease. In the midst of all these fallacious 
hopes, the disease suddenly took a more violent turn, and in 
a very short period put an end to his existence. 

" Very imperfectly indeed would those estimate the quali- 
ties of the deceased, who form their judgment from his public 
services alone. The features of his mind and character were 
not distinctly defined when seen by the blaze of public admi- 
ration. He was only recognized there as the intrepid defender 
of the people's rights, which he maintained with an ability^ 
firmness and constancy, proportionate to their own impor- 
tance, and in the danger to be apprehended from their viola- 
tion. Yet here, amidst these party storms of debate, one fea- 
ture of his character was plainly discernable ; politics with 
him possessed nothing of its usually grovelling selfishness — 
his hostility was on a large, manlj^, noble, comprehensive 
scale ; his genius was seen and felt as a public man, guided 
by public motives, and governed by a sense of public duty^ 
not as a ruthless, persecuting personal opponent. At the 
conclusion of a debate, when with an honest fidelity as a 
public servant, he had discharged his duty, he could take the 
most violent of his political opponents by the hand and in- 
dulge in all the flow of cordial affection. We hope that this 
example, set by one of the leaders of the Federal party, will 
be remembered and imitated by both parties. But we repeat 
the remark, that this trait, beautiful and luminous as it is, 
was not the distinctive trait of his character. It was this : 
in the hour when the strong and imperious claims of public 
service were satisfied, when he was no longer a public man, 
when he was left to the guidance of his own heart, all these 
high t^^ualities retired from the gaze. Mild, accessible, com^ 
municaiive, and urbane, he was then only distinguished by 
superior courtesy, frankness and intellect. We were sud- 
denly surprised by strong and masculine combinations of 
thought, splendid and original views of public men and 

of public measures ; and these all presented with such ease 



THOMAS P. GROSVENOR. 41 

and familiarity, with such simpHcity of character, so void 
of ostentation or parade, that we were deUghted, entertain- 
ed, and instructed, without being ourselves sensible of the 
obligation. He threw off the splendor of his public reputation, 
and approached you in the guise and character of a friend on 
equal terms. On this point, we can speak with feeling and 
with emphasis, and hazard nothing in the assertion, that a 
stranger who had read the public papers, and had accidentaly 
conversed with the deceased, delighted, astonished, and in- 
structed, as he would be, never would for a moment believe 
that his sociable, frank and communicative guest, was the 
orator, who on the floor of congress had so often electerised 
the House of Representatives. In short, this peculiar change 
of character, from the high and intrepid to the more amiable, 
frank, and pleasant qualities, formed the peculiar characteris- 
tic of the deceased. His private conversation was, as Burke 
says, the green on which the eye reposed after it was with- 
drawn from his splendor. We observed the muscular limbs 
and proportions of the giant, while he appeared himself to 
slumber, unconscious of his strength. It is an undoubted 
fact, that neither the political friends nor the political enemies 
of Grosvenor, are sensible of the full weight of his character ; 
but death is a melancholy teacher. When these great and 
distinctive points of character are stated, all the common re- 
lationships in life may be inferred. If the darkness of politi- 
cal controversy was only a cloud transiently passing over a 
sunbeam, if every thing beyond was green, beautiful and lu- 
minous, it is surely unnecessary to say, that in the calms of 
ordinary life, his orb was lovely and serene ; it is unnecessary 
to say that his heart was the repository of all the benevolent 
and generous affections. Nor should it be forgotten that in 
his last sickness, he added to these brilliant lights of character 
his testimony to the truth of the gospel. He gave his testi- 
mony to these awful truths, on which our present and eternal 
felicity is dependent. The language of the reverend gentle- 
man who attended him in those awful moments, was this : 
I was delighted with the interview, and gratified to find Mr. 
Grosvenor perfectly at home upon religious subjects, and so 
well prepared. He received the sacrament, and died in the 
faith of his Redeemer." 



42 BIOGRAPHY OF 



HOBERT R. LIVINGSTON. 



Robert R. Livingston, of Clermont, Columbia county, 
WSLS bom November 27, 1746, and was educated at Kings 
College, in the cit}^ of New- York ; he graduated at that in- 
stitution in the year 1765. He studied and practiced law in 
that city with great success ; he was an eminent statesman, 
and belonged to one of the most distinguished and talented 
families in America. He was a member of the first general 
Congress of the Colonies, and one of the committee appointed 
to prepare the Declaration of Independence. In 1780, he was 
appointed Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and he distinguished 
himself for his zeal in the Revolutionary cause. He was the 
first Chancellor of this State, and held that office until 1801, 
when he became incompetent, in consequence of his age, to 
hold the office any longer. 

He administered the oath of office to George Washing- 
TON, in the city of New-York, when he was first inaugurated 
President of the United States. That was perhaps one of the 
most interesting events that has ever occurred in this country ; 
an immense concourse of spectators had assembled to witness 
this solemn and interesting ceremony. The oath was ad- 
ministered by the Chancellor in a very solemn and dignified 
manner ; and the reverential awe with which the Father of 
his Country bowed to kiss the sacred volume, made a deep 
impression on the immense crowd of spectators that had as- 
sembled to witness this interesting event. 

He was an influential member of the convention that as- 
sembled at Poughkeepsie in June, 1780, for the purpose of 
taking into consideration the adoption of the Federal Consti- 
tution. He first addressed the convention in a very able and 
eloquent speech ; he pointed out the great importance of the 
union to this state, and the defects of the old confederation, 
and urged with all his powers of mind the importance of the 
question then to be considered ; he said that it was the duty 
of the members of the convention to divest themselves of 
prejudice, and deliberate with that candor and moderation 
which the great importance of the occasion demanded. The 
constitution was adopted by a small majority. There were 
fifty-seven members present when the vote was taken, thirty 



ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. 43 

of whom voted for the ratification of the constitiUion, and 
twenty-seven against it. It is questionable whether the Fede- 
ral constitution would have been adopted by the conventionj 
had it not been for his personal influence. 

In 1801, he was appointed Minister to France, by President 
Jefferson ; he was received with marked attention by Napo- 
leon Bonaparte, who was then first consul ; he seemed to be 
the favorite foreign minister at the French Court; and aided 
by Mr. Monroe, he succeeded in negotiating the treaty for the 
acquisition of the immense and fertile territory of Louisiana, 
at a comparatively small expense. The benefits derived from 
the acquisition of this territory to the Union, is incalculable. 
It secured forever peaceable and convenient access to the 
ocean, to the millions of our fellow citizens, settled on the 
almost limitless plains of the west. This successful mission 
to the French Court, secured for that able diplomatist im- 
perishable fame. In 1804, he left the French capital, and 
travelled extensively in Europe. On his return to Paris, Na- 
poleon, who was then emperor, presented him with a splend- 
id gold snuffbox, with a miniature likeness of himself, paint- 
ed on it by the celebrated Isabey. In the year 1805 he 
returned to the United States ; he was president of the New- 
York Academy of Fine Arts, of which he was a principal 
founder. He has done much for the improvement of the 
breed of sheep in this country, and he was the friend and 
patron of genius. The aid he rendered the immortal Fulton 
by his wealth and influence in the discoveries of applying 
steam power to navigation, will never be forgotten by his 
countrymen. He was indeed a benefactor of the human race- 
He died in 1813. 



44 BIOGRAPHY OF 



DANIEL CADY. 



Daniel Cady was born in the town of Chatham, county 
of Columbia, April 29, 1773, and is now almost seventy-eight 
years of age. He learned the shoemaker's trade in early life, 
and while engaged in that employment he accidentally in- 
jured and lost the sight of one of his eyes ; this event occurred 
at the age of eighteen years. He then resolved to study the 
profession of the law, and he soon entered the office of Judge 
Whiting, of Canaan, Columbia county, and he applied him- 
self with unusual energy and industry to the study of this 
science. He remained in the office of Judge Whiting about 
two years. He afterwards went to Troy, and completed his 
legal studies with Judge Woodward of that city. The time of 
his admission to practice at the bar is not precisely known to 
the writer, but it is believed at about the age of twenty-two years. 
I would here remark, that he wore a pair of boots of his own 
manufacture at the time of his examination. He entered 
upon the practice of his profession in the town of Florida, 
Montgomery county, where he remained about one year. He 
then removed to Johnstown, the county seat of Montgomery 
county, where he soon distinguished himself in his profes- 
sion, and a large professional business was soon entrusted to 
to his care ; and he was, during his residence at Johnstown, 
frequently consulted on difficult and critical legal questions, 
by men from every section of the state. But he was not the 
man to stir up petty suits ; to fan the embers of a litigious 
spirit, and in this manner to embroil the peace of society ; but 
fair minded, just and conscientious in the discharge of his 
professional duties, he acquired the esteem of the court, the 
bar and the jury. He so ingratiated himself into the confi- 
dence of the community around him, by the integrity of his 
conduct, as to be proverbially eulogised as the honest lawyer. 
Mr. Cady was elected several tmies to the Assembly ; he 
was there during the stormy session of 1809. He was in 
the Assembly again in 1813. A resolution purporting to be 
joint, passed the Senate, that the State should loan to the 
general government $500,000. This measure was supported 
in the Senate with great ability by General Root and Martin 



DANIEL CADY. 45 

Van Buren, and passed that body. When the bill came to 
the Assembly, it Avas successfully opposed by Mr. Cady, At- 
torney-General Van Vechten and Elisha Williams. Mr. Cady 
took a conspicuous part in the debate on that occasion. He 
was elected to Congress from Montgomery county ; and he 
addressed the House several times while he was a member, 
which he did with ability, and he was always listened to 
with the deepest attention whenever he addresed the House 
of Representatives. 

This venerable man has devoted a long life to the study 
and practice of the law, and has attained to a proud eminence 
in his profession. He is a man of active, industrious and 
temperate habits; and although nearly seventy-eight years of 
age, he is now capable of performing a vast amount of mental 
and bodily labor, and his mental faculties are not in the least 
perceptible degree impaired ; he is now one of the Justices of 
the Supreme Court, and is a man of exalted worth and strict 
integrity. 



46 BIOGRAPHY OF 



WILLIAM HOWARD ALLEN. 



Lieutenant William Howard Allen, whose enviable 
reputation is the common property of the nation, was born in 
the city of Hudson, on the 8th of July, 1790, of respectable 
parents. He was at a boarding school in London for a year 
and a half, previous to February, 1798. On returning home, 
his studies were continued at Hudson, until the fall of 1800 ; 
he then sailed for Calcutta. At the end of a year he resum- 
ed bis studies, and pursued them at the Academy at Hud- 
son, until May, 1805 ; he was then sent to Doyleston College, 
Pennsylvania, where he remained until the fall of 1807. 

He possessed strong and vigorous intellectual powers, 
and he mastered the sciences with ease, and laid a solid 
foundation for future usefulness. He always availed himself 
of every opportunity that presented for distinguishing him- 
self; and as occasion required, he evinced both skill and 
courage. He was appointed a midshipman in 1808. and was 
principally employed iti the gun boat service, and on board 
of the frigates Chesapeake and United States. About the 
beginning of the year 1811, he obtained the birth of master 
of a merchant ship, and made a voyage to Archangel. In 
the summer of 1812, according to Mr. Strong, he received a 
commission of second lieutenant, and he entered on board of 
the Argus. Her ciuise continued prosperous until she came 
in conflict with the British sloop-of-war Pelican. Although 
this vessel was superior to her in burthen, men and metal, 
yet the battle was long, severe and bloody. Early in the 
action, Capt. WilHam Henry Allen was mortally wounded 
and carried below ; shortly after, the first Lieutenant William 
H. Watson was severely wounded, and taken to the ward- 
room. The command, of the Argus then devolved on Lieu- 
tenant William Howard Allen ; his conduct was cool, de- 
liberate, and such as received the admiration of the crew, 
and the approbation and praise of his superior officers. After 
fighting was useless, the Argus was surrendered to the Pe- 
lican, a perfect wreck. This was on the thirteenth of August, 
1813. Lieutenant Allen was taken to Ashburton, England, 
where he was detained eighteen months a prisoner of war ; 
but he was exchanged before the close of the war, and 



WILLIAM HOWARD ALLEN. 



47 



returned in a cartel to Norfolk ; but owing to an extraordi- 
nary passage of some ninety days, he did not arrive until 
after the peace. In 1816, he made a voyage to DubUn, as 
the master of the brig Henry Clay ; he was then engaged in 
the merchants service. Duimg the two succeeding years, he 
was attached to the frigate United States or ship Indepen- 
dence. 

In the spring of 1819, the United States frigate Congres.", 
sailed on a cruise to the Chinese seas. Mr. Allen was her 
first lieutenant; his conduct during the cruise was highly 
meritorious. This being the first American ship of war of 
her class that had visited the East Indies, the natives were 
frightened at irer terrific appearance ; and he often described 
the impression it made upon their minds, and the deep con- 
viction it left of the strength and prowess of the United 
Stales. In May, 1821, he returned in the Congress, and re- 
mained attached to her until about the beginning of the year 
1822, when he was transferred to the ship Columbus, then 
lying in Boston. He left the Columbus some time in June, 
having obtained the command of the United States schooner 
Alligator. On the third of August, 1822, he sailed from New- 
York on a cruise against the pirates, and he plucked a wreath 
of glory, but the shaft of death was in it. He cheerfully en- 
gaged in this last perilous service, which would have appal- 
led anj^ ordinary mind. It called him to the West Indies, 
the charnel house of foreigners, whose seaports in the sum- 
mer months are the hotbeds of pestilence, disease and death, 
and whose climate had already consigned to the tomb many 
valuable lives; among whom were many of his intimate 
friends and brave companions. This service called him in 
contact with pirates, a gang of mercilr*ss bloodhounds, foes 
to dod and man, who live by plunder and murder, and who 
had sworn vengeance toward American officers and citizens. 

On his arrival at Havanna, he was informed that a gang 
of pirates, having in possession some merchant vessels, had 
stationed themselves in the bay of Le Juapo, in the neii/hbor- 
hood of Matanzas ; without coming to anchor, he immedi- 
ately proceeded in search of them. He approached the place, 
saw the pirate vessels, three in number, well armed and sup- 
plied, and manned with a hundred or more of these despera- 
does, with the bloody flag waving aloft and nailed to the 
mast. In possession of these assassins were five merchant- 
men and several American citizens ; this property and these 
captives the gallant Allen determined to rescue. The Alliga- 
tor, in consequence of the shoalness of the water, could not 
approach them ; he ordered the boats to be manned with 
about thirty of his crew, put himself in the van and led tho 
attack and boarded them. The outlaws resisted, but were 
driven from their flag vessel, of which he took possession. 



48 



BIOGRAPHY OF 



They fled to the other vessels, he pursued them amidst a 
shower of musketry ; a musket ball struck him in the head, 
still he pressed forward, cheeriug his men, and when about 
to board them, another pierced his breast ; this was mortal ; 
still he cheered his gallant little crew as they lifted him on 
board of the prize schooner, and laid him on the deck he had 
so dearly won, and he died of his wounds in about three 
hours after. He called his officers about him, gave directions 
respecting the piizes, for the merchant vessels had been res- 
cued ; conversed freely and cheerfully; hoped that his friends 
and his country would be satisfied that be had fought well. 
He said he died in peace with the world and looked lor his re- 
ward in the next. Although his pain, from the nature of his 
wounds, was excruciating, yet he did not complain, but died 
like a martyr, without a sigh or a groan, and the spirit of a 
braver man never entered the unseen world. The body of the 
martyred Allen was conveyed to Matanzas, in Cuba, where it 
was interred on the 1 1th November, 1822, with the honors 
due to his distinguished merit. 

Soon after the reception of this sad intelligence at Hudson, 
which cast a gloom over the city, the citizens of Hudson as- 
sembled at the city hall, and it was a more numerous meeting 
than had ever been witnessed in that city. This was on the 
fifth of December, 1822, and on motion of Elisha Williams, 
the honorable Alexander Coffin was called to the chair ; and 
on motion of Ambrose L. Jordan, Esq., Dr. Samuel White 
was appointed secretary. The Reverend B. F. Stanton opened 
the meeting with an appropriate and impressive prayer. The 
Hon. .Tames Strong then pronounced a splendid eulogy on 
the character of the late gallant Lieut. William Howard Allen. 

The common council of the city of Hudson, requested of 
the navy department to have the remains of Lieut. Allen 
brought from Matanzas to New- York in a public vessel. This 
request was promptly acceded to by the Secretary of the 
Navy, and on the fifteenth of December, 1827, the schooner 
Grampus arrived at New- York, having on board the remains 
of the lamented hero. On the reception of this intelligence, 
the common council of the city of Hudson deputed Mr. Reed, 
former mayor of this city, and Mr. Edmonds, the recorder, to 
receive and bring them to his native city. On the Wednes- 
day following, they were removed from the Navy Yard at 
Brooklyn, under the escort of the marine corps of that station, 
and accompanied by Commodore Chauncey and a numerous 
body of naval officers. The colors at the Yard, and at New- 
York, were at half-mast ; and the procession landed at New- 
York amid the firing of a salute from the Grampus, which had 
been moored in the stream for that pnrpose. At New-York, 
the procession was joined by the common council of that city, 
and an immense concourse of citizens and officrs, and moved 



WILLIAM HOWARD ALLEN. 49 

across the city to the steamboat, which carried them to Hud- 
son. There a salute was fired by a detachment of ariillery, 
and by the marine corps, and the remains were dehvered by 
Commodore Chauncey to the Hudson deputation. His re- 
mains were accompanied to Hudson by the following officers 
of the ,Navy : Lieuts. Francis H. Gregory, George N. Hollins, 
William D. Newman, John R. Coxe, John Swartwout and 
Alexander M. Mull^ saiUng master liloodgood ; and midship- 
men Lynch, Nichols, Schei-merhorn, Lawrence, and Pinckney, 
and arrived early on Thursday morning. They were wel- 
comed by a national salute, and were escorted to the dwel- 
ling of Capt. Alexander Coffin, the patriotic liiusman of the 
lamented hero, by a detachment of military and a numerous 
escort of citizens, which moved in the following order : 

Hiidson City Guards. 

Columbia Plaids. 

Athens Lafayette Guards. 

And the military under the command of Col. William A. Dean, 

with standards furled and drums muffled. 

The Reverend Ciergy. 

The Corpse, 

'Borne by Lieiits. Gregory, Hollins, Newman, Coxe, Swart- 

wout and Mull, and Midshipmen Lynch and Nichols. 
Mourners, including Messrs. Bioodgood, Schermerhon. Law- 
rence and PinckRey of the United States Navy, 
Hudson Military Association. 
Brigadier General Whiting and bis Suite. 
The Mayor and Recorder. 
Aldermen. 
Assistant Aldermen. 
Clerk and Marshall of the City. 
Clt;rk and Sheriff of the County. 
Committee of Arrangements. 

Followed by a larger and more respectable procession of 
citizens than had, for many years, boen witnessed in that city. 
While the procession moved, the bells of the city were tolled, 
and minute guns were fired from parade hill. On its arrival 
at the grave yard, the lx)dy was conveyed in front of the line 
of the military resting on arms reversed, and was connnitted 
to the earth, near the grave of Lieut. Allen's mother. The 
funeral service was read by the Rev. Mr. Stebbins, and a vol- 
ley fired over the grave by the military. The procession then 
returned to the United States Hotel, where it was dismissed. 

At three o'clock, P. M-, the naval ofiicers sat down to a 
public dinner, given them by the citizens, at which about one 
hundred of the most respectable citizens were present. 

The evening was spent at the hospitable mansion of Col, 
fJvingston. On Friday, the ofEcers paid iheir respects to the 



50 BIOGRAPHY OF 

mayor, and departed amid the roar of cannon, with the heart- 
felt gratitude of the whole city for their generous attention ori 
this occasion. 

The following correspondence passed between the officers 
of the Navy and the committee : 

Hudson, December 21, 1827. 
The officers of the Navy assembled on the present melan- 
choly occasion, reciprocating the sentiments expressed by the 
citizens of Hudson, return their thanks for the unparalleled 
tribute paid to the memory of their late gallant associate. 
They at the same time return their acknowledgments for 
the liberal hospitality which has characterized the whole 
proceeding ; and in departing, beg leave to say, that whether 
applied to the individual or professional standing of their de- 
parted member, the conduct of the citizens is alike honorable 
to their feelings and principles as men and patriots. Labor- 
ing under emotions too powerful to be conveyed in adequate 
language, they tender the committee a grateful and aflection- 
ate farewell, 

Hudson, December 21, 1827. 
The committee of the citizens of Hudson, in acknowledging 
the favor of the officers of the Navy, assembled on this occa- 
sion of paying the last honors to the memory of the lamented 
Allen, gladly avail themselves of this opportunity to assure 
those gentlemen of the high sense entertained by this whole 
community of the obligation conferred upon them, by the 
attendance of individuals deservedly distinguished for their 
public and private worth ; as the committee cannot entertain 
a doubt that the lives of those officers of the Navy wilt be as 
honorable, so they cannot help but hope that their deaths 
will be as glorious, and their memories as much respected as 
those of the gallant and unfortunate William Howard Allen. 
By order of the committee. 

DAVID WEST, Chairman. 
William A. Dean, Secretary. 

The Honorable James Strong, in his eulogy on Lieutenant 
Allen, says : 

" Thus ended the career of one^ whose merits as a citizen, 
son and officer, have been rarely excelled. He too, whose 
loss we deplore, was the first victim of his grade to these 
enemies of the human race ; he was the first commissioned 
officer that had fallen by these outlaws. And was this signal 
and distinguished sacrifice necessary to arouse the nation to 
a sense of its duty ; could nothing but the murder of one of 
her biavest sons excite the righteous indignation of freemen, 
and induce them to adopt measures for the protection and 



WILLIAM HOWARD ALLEN. 51 

defence of property and life, of liberty and law against the 
robberies and violence of pirates ; and are these devils incar- 
nate, who have renounced their God, and trampled underfoot 
the blood of the cross, and waged merciless war against their 
fellow mortals, to be tolerated by any christian nation? 

" They should be taught, that justice, religion and law, bear 
the sway on earth ; and if it must be, the American eagle 
wherever she sports her plumes in the breeze, will teach them 
to respect the flag of the nation ] or if they be too drunk witli 
blood to learn, will pursue and exterminate them, be the 
hazard what it may. 

"Yes, they must be pursued, hunted in their fastness, 
cloven down, destroyed root and branch ; and if the effort 
of the nation to do this, war come of it, let it come ; better 
perish nobly and at once, than ignobly and by piece-meal ; 
and why delay, shall we wait until the spirits of all our 
Aliens have gone aloft ! Who then will be left to rally 
around our citadel, to protect our commerce and property; 
who to avenge the death of our wives and helpless infants; 
and who to defend our domestic sanctuaries and the altars of 
our God? 

" In stature, Mr. Allen was of middle size, bony and muscu- 
lar, well made, and of strong features ; his eyes were keen, 
and evinced quickness and intelligence ; in his demeanor he 
was modest, yet there was mingled with it an air of command, 
which, though never assuming, was always imposing. As a 
commander, he was prompt and efficient- always rigorous, 
but never severe ; his men loved and obeyed him. Fearless 
himself, he made others so too ; he never said to others go, 
but his language was follow me to the cannon's mouth. And 
so long as officers like he tread the deck of our navy, the 
eagle, proud bird, will set upon high, and preside over the 
deeds and conquests of the brave, for the ffag of the nation 
will wave triumphant. 

" As a friend, he was open, sincere and faithful, spar- 
ing of censure, and tender of reputation ; he spoke cau- 
tiously of others, for he well knew that a slanderous tongue 
is the evidence of a corrupt heart. His general conversation 
respecting his brother officers, was that of deference and re- 
spect. If he ever permitted himself to arraign the conduct of 
any one of them, it was done in the confidence of friendship, 
and rather to point out the error of the action, than to injure 
the reputation of him who committed it. And would that 
this example was followed by all who are honored with an 
epaulet in the Navy, and wear the eagle and anchor of the 
nation. As a brother, none was ever more affectionate, ten- 
der, or truer. 

" But it is as a son his character breaks in upon us in all its 
loveliness and splendor ; fi-equently did he spend days and 



52 BIOGRAPHY OF 

nights, sometimes weeks, by the bed side of his siek and 
pious mother; comforting hier with the assiduity of his atten- 
tions, and consohng and animating her by the tenderness and 
warmth of his aifections. After being exposed to all the 
varieties of climate and seasons, and escaping the perils and 
dangers of the seas, full often did he return, and like a min- 
istering angel, to pour the horn of plenty into the lap of 
penury, to bring home sustenance, comfort and consolation to 
his anxious and dependent family. It was his family, for he 
alone provided for its wants ; and the fatal ball that pierced 
him, cut off the right hand that clothed, fed and sustained it. 
A large portion of his hard earnings, from the time he entered 
the service, and until his death, was constantly appropriated 
by him for the support of his parents and unmarried sisters ; 
and for some years past, the portion thus set apart, has been 
drawn by his mother directly from the navy office, in pursu- 
ance of an arrangement which he made with the department 
for this purpose. How rare is filial affection like this ; how 
deep and warm must that lore be ; of what fine and delicate 
moral texture, and pure and holy principle must that heart con- 
sist, which can equal the bright example here given of the 
duty of a child to its parents. Tiie Cornelias and Lucretias of 
Rome would be proud of such a son. It is in a soul like his 
that humanity finds a friend, the oppressed a protector, the 
people a trusty servant, and liberty a champion ; for a son 
who never abused his parents can never betray his country. 
Treason, filial affection and fidelity, can never dwell to- 
gether." 

The following stanzas were taken from the Northern 
Whig : 

STANZAS 

ON liEUTENANT ALLEN, OF THE UNITED' STATES NAVT. 
I. 

He died on the wave — the victorious wave, 

That witnessed his brilliant and conq'ring caireer; 
Begirt by the mighty — begirt by the brave. 

Who dropped o'^er his reliques soft sympathy's tear; 
The banner of freedom waved proudly on Ijigh, 

When mortality's shroud was laid o'er him, , • 

And the sun had illumed the meridian sky 

When the darkness of death was before him ! 
But he died where he lived, on the ocean's blue wave, 
The home of the valiant — the tomb of the brave. 

II. 

He saw on the water an ominous sail — 

'Twas the sail of the pirate that breasted the foam; 
He called up his gailant crew — woo'd tije fresh gale. 

And his heart danced with joy on his own ocean-home. 
Did he see the red streamer that floated; on high, 

O'er the fell pirate vessel, prophetic and dread? 
Did he hear the shrill wind that was borne thro' 'he skj 

Like spirit's sad dirge o'er the unburied deadl 
Aye, he saw the red flag — and heard the shrill gale. 
And he hoisted his glad and victorious sail. 



WILLIAM HOWARD ALLEN. 03 

III. 

He hatli gone forth to meet the elate buccaneer, 

And his spirits are light as the foam of the seas; 
He hath gone on his bright and victorious career. 

And his vengeance is swift as the wild ocean breeze 1 
Ye craven marauders! fiy, fly from his path, 

Lest he tear into pieces your banner of blood; 
Away thou dark pirate ship — tempt not his wrath, 

Lest he sink thy base hulk in the perilous flood; 
And then die as brave Wolfe died — the hero's proud doom — 
%Vhea Victory lights his bright path to the tomb. 

IV. 

They have met like two clouds in the desperate sky, 

And the flash and the deep thunder waken around — 
And young Allen is there — aitd his weapon is high, 

And its clash and its clang&ur thro' the sky resouud — 
His eye is on danger — his look is on death — 

His hand on his blade, and feis heart in the strife-; 
He sees not — he hears not the fauitering breath 

Of the craven v/ho asks for his life — 
He but sees the dark pirate ship's banner of blood, 
And he swears to wash out its deep dye in the flood, 

V. 
•Did ye see the stern pirate foe — death in his eye, 

As he pointed his weapon at Allen's proud breast? 
Did ye hear the loud gunshot that sounded on high ? 

'Twas the dirge of a soul that has gone to its rest! 
Then broke the wild cry thro' the tremulous air. 

And they swore to revenge the young hero's sad doom, 
And they plunged like young lions aroused from their laii^ 

And recked not of death or the desolate tomb, 
So that Victory hovered with blight wing of pride 
O'er the warrior's couch when the warrior died. 

VI. 
The tear of the patriot will drop o'er the grave. 

Where the hero reposes in silence and gloom — 
The arm of the gallant, the generous, the brave, 

Will rise to revenge the young Conq'ror's doom; 
Wake harp of the minstrel — awake the sad dirge, 

And pour the Lament thro' the desolate sky — 
The hero hath died on the rude ocean's surge, 

His tomb is on earth, but his home is on high: 
And the laurel shall bloom — and the cypress shall wave 
Long, long o'er young Allen's victorious grave. 

Rhinebeck, Dec. 4tk, 1822. 

The citizens of Hudson, who have always been distin- 
guished for their HberaUty and patriotisnri, erected in 1833, a 
splendid monument to his memory, on which we find the 
following inscriptions : 

" To the memory of William Howard Allen, Lientenant 
in the United States Navy, who was killed when in the act 
of boarding a piratical vessel on the coast of Cuba, near 
Matanza.s, at the age of thir(y-two years. 

" William Howard Allen was born in the city of Hudson 
July 8, 1790, he was appointed a midshipman in 1808, and 



54 BIOGRAPHY OF 

a lieutenant in 1811, and he took a conspicuous part in the 
engagement between the Argus and the Pehcan, in 1813^ 
and was killed while in command of the schooner Aligator. 

"William Howard Allen, his remains first buried at 
Matanzas, were removed to this city by the United States 
government, and interred under the direction of the common 
council of this city beneath this marble, erected to his memory 
by the citizons of his native place, in 1833. 

" Pride of his country's banded chivalry, 

His fame their hope, his name their battle cry ; 
He lived as mothers wished their sons to live, 
And died as fathers wished their sons to die." 



VriLLIAM J. WORTH. 55 



WILLIAM J. WORTH. 



Major General William J. Worth, is another of Co- 
lumbia's illustrious sons, whom not only this county, but the 
nation may be justly proud of having given birth. This 
distinguished officer was born in the city of Hudson in 1794. 
He received a good common school education, and com- 
menced life in this city as a clerk ; from Hudson he removed 
to Albany, where he remained until he was eighteen years of 
age. when he entered the army. He married the daughter of 
the late John Stafford, of Albany. He died of cholera at 
Antonia De Bexar, Texas, on the 17th of May, 1849, after 
having escaped the perils and dangers of the Mexican war. 
His character, as a soldier, is well known throughout the 
world ; and his military achievements now constitute an im- 
portant portion of his country's history. His name, along 
with those of Taylor and Scott, will descend to posterity, and 
be admired and revered through all future time. 

We copy the following biographical sketch of General 
Worth, Irom the " Rough and Ready Annual." 

"William J. Worth was born in the State of New- York, 
and when a boy, was engaged in a store in AlbanJ^ When 
quite young, the disputes between France and England 
seemed likely to draw our country into a war with one of the 
great powers ; and when these fears were realized. Worth 
was one of the first to apply for a commission in the army. 
His request was granted, and he received the appointment of 
first Lieutenant in the twenty-third infantry, on the 19th 
March, 1813. 

" In the battle of Chippewa Plains, Worth acted as aid to 
General Scott ; and when the nature of that officer's duties 
are remembered, it will be acknowledged that this was a 
dangerous and responsible station. Yet he won the admira- 
tion of his superiors, by his excellent conduct, and was noti- 
ced by General Brown in complimentary terms. He was 
further rewarded by a commission as Captain, dated August 
19, 1814. 

" In the sanguinary battle of Niagara, Worth had a further 
opportunity of proving his military talents. Captain Worth 



56 BIOGRAPHY OF 

was rewarded for his bravery in this action-, by the thanks 
of his superior officers, and the rank of Major. Ahhough he 
performed good service during the remainder of the war, yet 
he had no opportunity of distinguishing himself. At its close^ 
he was honored by an appointment to superintend the West 
Point Acadeniy, in whicii responsible station he won the 
esteem and confidence of all concerned. He was breveted 
Lieutenat-Colonel on the 25th of July, 1824; appointed Ma- 
jor of ordnance in 1832, and Colonel of the 8th infantry regi- 
ment, July 7th, 1838. 

" In Florida, Colonel Worth was enabled to act a rather 
more conspicuous part than most of the officers in that un- 
fortunate war. The precision that characterizes all his move- 
ments was of the utmost service during the campaigns of 
1841 and 1842, when he compelled several parties of Indians 
to surrender. He was breveted Brigadier-General on the 1st 
of March, 1842. On the 19th of April he fought the battle of 
Palakhiklaha, in which a large body of Seroinoles were en- 
tirely defeated, and several of their chieftains subsequently 
obliged to surrender. 

" When General Taylor marched from Corpus Christi to 
make war upon Mexico, Worth was the second in command, 
and led the main army to the Rio Grande, while the com- 
mander moved towards Point Isabel. Worth planted the flag 
of his country on the Rio Grande, with his own hand. Soon 
after Colonel Twiggs arrived, and claimed the command of 
Worth's division, on account of priority of commission. His 
claim being substantiated by the proper documents, Taylor 
was obliged to confirm it, and Worth, considering himself 
aggrieved, left the army, reached Washington and tendered 
his resignation. In doing so, however, he displayed all the 
delicacy and reluctance which such a step was calculated to 
inspire, and declared his hope that should actual hostilities 
take place he might be permitted to resume the command, and 
express his entire approbation of the conduct of the com- 
manding general. 

" While at Washington the aspect at the seat of war 
changed. News arrived of the danger of Taylor at Fort 
Brown, and soon after of the march to Point Isabel, and the 
battles of the 8th and 9th of May. Worth immediately ap- 
plied for his commission ; it was granted, and he hurried on 
to Texas. He was received by General Taylor with open 
arms, and conducted the negotiations attending the capitula- 
tion of Metamoras. 

" But another and nobler field was now offered to him at 
Monterey. General Taylor, with the generosity of a true 
soldier, intrusted him with the attack upon the Bishop's pa- 
lace ; an almost impregnable fortress, commanding a steep 
and rocky height, and the key of the road to the interior. 



WILLIAM J. WORTH. 



sr 



This was considered by the whole army as an ahnost despe- 
rate undertaking, and none who saw the division of the Ge- 
neral march from the camp towards the palace, expected to 
see half of them return. 

" The peculiar situation of Worth, favored this belief, as it 
was supposed that, in order to atone for his lost opportunities, 
and stop the voice of calumny, he would rush headlong into 
danger, and recover his reputation at every hazard. Worth 
acted diflerently. He felt his duty to the soldiers, and allow- 
ed no personal feeling to hinder its execution. Where the 
Americans ex|'ected the heaviest loss, and perhaps total fail- 
ure, they were scarcely injured. During the whole time the 
troops labored in range of the enemy's guns, crossing ravines, 
climbing rocks and ledges, wading through water and carry- 
ing their cannon up precipitous cliffs. Worth was all the 
time on horseback, riding from post to post, and using every 
effort to cheer his men in their laborious duties. His conduct 
is mentioned by the commander, in terms of the warmest 
approbation. 

" Worth was one of the commissioners at the negotiations 
for the capitulation, and performed efficient service during 
the evacuation of the city. He was subsequently detached 
to Saltillo, where he remained until January, at which time 
he marched for the Gulf coast to join Gen. Scott. 

" At Vera Cruz, General Worth was the first officer that 
formed his troops in line after their landing. His services 
in the siege were valuable ; and he was the head of the 
American deputation to arrange the terms of capitulation. 
When the Mexicans had left the city, Worth was appointed 
governor, and occupied it with his brigade. His prompt and 
exact measures soon resuscitated the trade and commerce of 
the city, and repressed the disorders which had long dis- 
graced it. 

"On the same day that the battle of Sierra Gordo was 
fought. Worth took unresisted possession of the town and 
fortress of Perote, in which were found immense stores of 
ammunition, cannon, mortars, and small arms. This is one 
of the strongest castles in Mexico. Here he remained for some 
time, principally engaged in perfecting the discipline of his 
army. The movements of Santa Anna called him from his 
retirement ; and after the battle of Sierra Gordo, he was very 
active in cutting off supplies from the Mexican camp. Early 
in May, he advanced towards Puebia, and on the 11th, he 
was met by Santa Anna, with a detachment of about three 
thousand men, most of them cavalry. A skcrmish ensued, 
several Mexicans were unhorsed, and the whole force returned 
to the city. 

" The next morning, before daylight, Santa Anna left for 
the interior, and at ten o'clock the Americans obtained quiet 



58 BIOGRAPHY OF 

possession. The city of Puebla is well built, ornamented 
with numerous public buildings, and contains eighty thousand 
inhabitants. 

'• This has proved the last military achievement of General 
Worth. The same inaction of troops imposed on all other 
officers of the Mexican war, is shared by him ; and until this 
is obviated, we have little reason to suppose that we will 
have occasion to crown him with fresh laurels. 

"General Worth possesses a tall, commanding figure, a full 
front, and is said to be the best horseman, and handsomest 
man in the army. In discipline, he is very rigid, but is a uni- 
versal favorite with the soldiers, by whom his appearance is 
always cheered. His great atiachment to General Taylor, 
has been the subject of frequent remark ; and when the com- 
mander was called to part with so many of his officers, prior 
to the battle of Buena Vista, with no one was he more loth 
to part than with Worth. The General never appears with 
his troops except on horseback ; and he seems perfectly con- 
scious of his skill in riding. On such occasions, he forms a 
most singular contrast to his brother officer, who is one of the 
most awkward equestrains in Mexico. 

" Worth possesses fine talents other than military. He 
seems to be one of those who are born to distinguish them- 
selves in any occupation into which fortune may throw them. 
He is a firm friend, an agreeable companion, and possesses a 
sort of chivalric frankness and kindness of heart, which, not- 
withstanding his strict discipline, endear him to the whole 
army. 

GEN. W^ORTH AT MONTEREY. 

" Few who saw General Worth march towards the Bish- 
op's Palace, on the morning of the 20th, ever expected to see 
him return. He had missed Palo Alto and Resaca Palma ; 
and his feelings were known to be sad and chafed at the late 
unfortunate differences between himself and government. It 
was well understood that General Taylor had given him a 
separate command, mainly out of delicacy to his misfortunes; 
and all supposed that he would establish his reputation as a 
general, by pushing forward, through uproar, confusion, and 
death, to the cannon's mouth. 

" As the brave fellows filed by their comrades, many a 
pitying glance was cast upon them, and many a brave heart 
ached as it sighed forth an involuntary farewell. The gene- 
ral was silent. He appreciated the magnanimity of his 
brother veteran, and burned to prove that it was not mis- 
placed ; but, no doubt, thoughts were then crowding upon his 
mind, which were never permitted to pass the lips ; and he 
knew and felt that something dearer than life was resting 
upon the possibility of capturing a seemly impregnable fort- 
ress. 



WILLIAM J. WORTH. 59 

" The division marched to a hill, and passed (he night 
almost within range of the palace guns. Long before day- 
light, the rolling of drums and the loud shouting of the senti- 
nels, roused the soldiers to arms, and they soon recommenced 
their toilsome march. After winding in silence up the steep 
ascent, they arrived at a ridge, dimly seen through the twilight, 
projecting over their heads. They turned it, and directly in 
front were the muzzles of the enemy, frowning with seeming 
impatience upon them. But it was too late to pause. On 
they went, sweeping up the rocky path ; their artillery echo- 
ing from hill to hill, as the horses galloped over the hard 
ledge. Suddenly the enemy burst forth, and ere the thunder- 
ing discharge had rolled away in the distance, storms of iron 
hail came battering over the rocks, and scattering broken 
bushes and flinty stones in all directions. Still the troops 
bore on, winding along a deep gorge, till they reached another 
ride about three quarters of a mile from the first, and under 
the summit of a high hill. Upon reaching this, they beheld 
in advance, a body of cavalry, splendidly mounted and capa- 
risoned, with their lances sparkling in the early sunbeams, 
and preparing for a charge. Immediately, Captain Gillespie 
galloped along the flank of his Texan rangers, ordering them 
to dismount, and place themselves in ambush. They obeyed, 
and the next moment the enemy swept within a few yards 
of them. 

" All at once, the rangers poured forth their fire, and man 
and horse plunged headlong over the rocks. McCullough's 
troops now dashed into their broken ranks, and closely fol- 
lowing came the 8th infantry, led by the gallant Longstreet, 
The enemy fought furiously, and hand to hand the fierce 
cavalry charged each other rolling backward and forward 
upon the rocky height. 

"Meanwhile Colonel Duncan had been preparing his bat- 
tery, and soon its heavy discharges, and the rushing of the 
terrified horses, announced that the conflict was about to ter- 
minate. The enemy fled up the hill, in wild confusion, fol- 
low by the infantry of the Americans, who as they moved 
fired volleys of musketry at their foe. The Mexicans lost 
thirty men killed ; among them a Captain, who fell under 
three wounds, while fighting with the most determined 
bravery. 

" About noon, Captain C. F. Smith, with two companies of 
the artillery battalion and four of Texan rangers, was ordered 
to storm the second height. The undertaking was a fearful 
one. Five hundred yards intervened between them and the 
foot of the hill, their way lying over perpendicular rocks, 
heaps of loosened stones, and thorn bushes ; while on every 
peak and thicket above were glittering rows of Mexican in- 
fantry, prepared to pour upon them showers of musket balls. 



60 BIOGRAPHY OF 

The party, however, did not for one moment dream of danger. 
Under their gallant leader, they were prepared for any service 
and any danger ; and after the command to march was given, 
they were soon out of sight, behind a ridge of rocks. Their 
companions watched, with beating hearts, for their re-ap- 
pearance ; till at length, fearful for their safety. Captain Miles, 
with the 7th infantry, was detached to their support. 

"Instead of taking the same route as the first party, they 
moved rapidly toward the hill in the very breast of the re- 
doubt until they arrived at the shores of the San Juan, which 
winds along a ledge. They paused a moment, and the next 
were wading across the swift current, which was plunging 
and foaming with the showers of balls that incessantly 
ploughed its surface. They landed, marched to the hill, and 
detached Lieutenant Gantt, to arrest the attention of the ene- 
my, and if possible discover Captain Smith's party. They 
pushed up the hill, while shells and round shot tiew in all 
directions, tearing up the shrubs and stones, and filling the air 
with showers of dust and gravel ; and overhead, the sharp 
crack of musketrj^, echoing from clift' to cliff, announced that 
the infantry were not idle. Suddenly, the quivering bayonets 
of the first party glittering in the sunbeams, broke upon their 
sight. They arrived, rushed up the hill, and the next mo* 
ment we were sweeping the Mexicans from the summit. 

" The enthusiasm of the troops now became irresistible. 
Company after com pan j)" marched up the rocky ascent, cheer- 
ing and shouting until their voices arose above the roar of 
cannon and confusion of battle. The Mexicans, unable to 
resist the fierce shock, deserted their works and fled, to the 
number of a tliousand, down the steep ascent towards their 
second fort. A.s they passed the rear gate, the Americans 
entered in front ; and in a moment the national flag was 
playing in graceful folds over the breastworks, while the 
guns found in the fort commenced thundering away at the 
Bishop's Palace. 

*'Thus was this important post taken, almost without loss 
on the part of the Americans ; but it was only the com- 
mencement of the drama — the palace was still before the 
soldiers, with its massive frowning walls, that seemed to bid 
haughty defiance to the utmost eflbrt of any army. Rows of 
cannon and files of musketry bristled along its ramparts, and 
its very height was fearful to look upon. Yet the man who 
led the assailants, was not to be deterred by difficulty. He 
had deteimined to accomplish what he had marched for — to 
take the palace. 

"At three o'clock, on the morning of the 21st, Col. Childs 
left the camp with three companies, on his way to the palace. 
'^Pheir road lay over steep rocks, covered with loose fragments 
or hedges of chapparel. They marched rapidly, but with 



WILLIAM J. WORTH. 61 

mnffied tread, until, at daybreak, they found tliemsolves 
within one hundred yards ot" a Mexican breastwork ol" sand 
bags. Here, being discovered, they paused to await rein- 
forcements. Three privates, however, had advanced ahead 
of their companions, and were surprised by a party of Mexi- 
cans, to whom tliey surrendered. They were shot with their 
own muskets. Major Scott and Col. Saniford now advanced 
to the support of Chiids, toihng up the steep ascent, and 
obhged to carry a heavy howitzer upon their sliouklers. 

" When these reached the suiimnt, tlie loud bursts of the 
howitzer, and the renewed firing from the palace, announced 
that the conflict had begun in earnest. All at once the Mexi- 
can force collected, and poured toward the howitzer at full 
gallop. The brave Rowland saw them coming, and prepared 
for the encounter. Another leap, and their horses would 
almost have touched the Americans, when a loud burst rang 
upon the air, and the dense mass rolled backward, as though 
struck by an earthquake. Then followed a peal of musketry, 
and the broken cavalry tied in terror from the miequal <^on- 
test. In a little while, the Americans followed them, rushed 
upon the palace, and entered by a small aperture in the wall. 
Tlie Mexicans were soon driven from the works, the guns 
secured, the star-spangled banner hoisted, and the Bishop's 
Palace was our own. 

" On the 23d, General Worth entered Monterey with his 
whole division, and was sonn involved in the stirring events 
attending its assault. As he rode from post to post, amid the 
shots that were flying thick and fast around him, liis fine 
form seemed to grow with the danger, and the sadness of a 
previous day was entirely absorbed in the excitement of ac- 
tion and flush of victory. Here he remained in the very heart 
of the city, until news reached him that terms ot capitulation 
were about to be offered, when he ceased all further opera- 
tions. 

" No event in the life of General Worth has ever added 
more to his reputation as a general, than this fine assault. It 
was conducted under peculiar circumstances— those which, 
in some measure, would have excused or palliated rashness. 
But he forgot self The safety of his men was more dear to 
him than his personal fame ; and, with a feeling allied to that 
of the martyr, he determined to perform nothing but his duty, 
totally regardless of consequences. His disinterestedness was 
rewaided ; and the post where all thought slaugther would 
be wildest, was scarcely stained with American blood. How 
gratifying must have been the feelings of the General as he 
reflected on the magnitude of his services, his little loss, and 
complete success.'' 



62 BIOGRAPHY OP 



AMBROSE SPENCER. 



The late Chief Justice Ambrose Spencer, was bom in 
the State of Connecticut, on the thirteenth of December, 1765. 
His father's name was PhiHp Spencer. He entered the fresh- 
man class of Yale College, in the autumn of 1779, where he 
remained nearly three years; and he completed his collegiate 
course at Harvard University in 1783. He was only six or 
seven months past his seventeenth birth day, when he gradu- 
ated. He commenced the study of the law with John Can- 
field, a distinguished lawyer, at Sharon, Connecticut. He re- 
mained in the office of Mr. Canfield until sometime in the 
year 1785 ; he then quit his residence at Sharon, and became 
a student in the office John Bay, Esquire, in the village of 
Claverack, in the county of Columbia. Mr. Bay was an emi- 
nent lawyer at that period. In 1786, while a student, he was 
appointed clerk of the city of Hudson, through the influence 
of his friend, John Bay. Mr. Bay held the office before him, 
and he generously relinquished it in behalf of his pupil. The 
period of his professional practice, from the time he took his 
counsellor license to his elevation to the bench, was fourteen 
years. After the first three years, with the interval of one 
year only, he was constantly in public office, either political 
or professional, or both. In 1793, he was elected a member 
of the Assembly from Columbia county. The next year he 
was elected to the Senate from the eastern district of the 
state; he took his seat in January, 1796. He was reelected 
in 1798, from the middle district, into which Columbia county 
had been thrown, for four years. In 1796, he was made As- 
sistant Attorney-General for the judicial district composed of 
Columbia and Dutchess ; and in February, 1802, he was ap- 
pointed Attorney-General of the state, which office he held 
until February, 1804. 

From his first entrance on his professional career as a coun- 
sellor of the Supreme Court, his practice was extensive and 
lucrative. He was one of the most conspicuous members of 
the Columbia bar at that time, and he took part in the trial 
of the most important causes. He was also habitually in 
attendance on the higher courts ; his name appears frequently 



AMBROSE SPENCER. 63 

in the volume of the earhest reported cases in 1790, and he 
was greatly distinguished as a lawyer long hefore that period. 
The members of the New- York bar, at the close of the last 
century, and at the beginning of the present, when Mr. Spen- 
cer's legal fame was at its height, were greatly distinguished 
for their superior talents and legal learning. He was a mem-' 
ber of the council of appointment in 1797. In the spring of 
1798 he was reelected to the Senate. He was appointed a 
Judge of the Supreme Court in 1804; from 1804 to 1823 was 
the poiod of his judicial service. 

Mr, Spencer removed from Hudson to Albany in 1803. 
He was appointed Chief Justice in 1819 ; and was a con- 
spicuous delegate to the convention of 1821. He was also a 
member of the twenty-first Congress, from the Albany district. 
having taken his seat in December, 1829. "He had the bu- 
siness of the conunittee on agriculture in charge," says Mr. 
Barnard, and he took a deep interest on the subject of the re- 
moval of the Cherokee Indians. " His instinctive love of jus- 
tice, his abhorrence of deceit, oppression, violence and fraud, 
and the shock he felt at the manner in which the opinions and 
judgment of that high tribunal over which Marshall presided, 
had been contemned in the case of these Indians, led him 
to enter into this subject with even unwonted zeal and energy. 
He addressed the House at much length on the subject, and, 
in every way, in concert whh the ablest and purest men of 
the time, in and out of Congress, endeavored to arrest and stay 
the cruel hand, and unwarrantable course of the government. 
These efforts, we know, were unsuccessful." 

Mr. Barnard also remarks, that " no just estimate can be 
put on the service rendered by Chief Justice Spencer to the 
jurisprudence of his country, by us or by any body, by the pre- 
sent or by coming generations, without some adequate ac- 
quaintance with the whole contents and body of that volu- 
minous history in which his acts and labors are recorded. 
The circle of his true fame and glory, therefore, will be 
that of the judiciary and the bar, where only it can be ex- 
pected that he should be fully known and understood in his 
works and character as a judge. Statesmen, however, and 
men of general intelligence, who must know something of 
the law and its general history, will never fail to hold him in 
high estimation. Amongst them, as in the legal profession, 
the name of Spencer, along with those of Holt, Hardwicke, 
Camden, Thurlow, Mansfield, Ken yon, Marshall, Parsons, 
Story and Kent, will continue, in all time, to be pronounced 
with respect and veneration, so long as the common law and 
free countries — free as no other system of jurisprudence can 
make a country — shall endure. Nor can his name, indeed, die 
out of the memories of men of all ranks and degrees — at least 
inthiscountry — so longasthatpopularintelligence shall prevail 



64 



BIOGRAPHY OF 



which enables the common mind to comprehend, though only 
in a vague and general way, how our system of American 
common law, in the construction and elucidation of which he 
had so large a share, stands connected indissolubly with all 
the securities of person, property and happiness by which they 
are surrounded, and with that manly and virtuous freedom by 
which they are so much distinguished. 

"Ambrose Spencer was called a stern judge. He was as 
stern as Justice is, and not more so. Crime, fraud, vice, 
cruelty, injustice, oppression, violence, breach of faith, breach 
of honesty, and breach of law — these, as they appeared be- 
fore him, never escaped the visitation of his just indignation 
and his stern rebuke. Ignorance and folly, if now and then 
he met such at the bar, where he had a right to look for some- 
thing better, were not apt to escape his frown of displeasure 
or of contempt. With a large frame, and a connnanding per- 
son, tall, straight and well knit together, and with a counte- 
nance indicative of strong thought, not cold and abstract, but 
deepened with feeling not less strong — forming altogether a 
presence of uncommon dignity and energy — it certainly was 
not a light thing to encounter his displeasure. The character 
for stern justice and rigid impartiality which he bore, was apt 
to make his displeasure felt as something only too well de- 
served, and it was the more justly to be dreaded from the un- 
common command he had over the most forcible forms of 
expression v/hich the English language could supply, and 
which seemed to possess extraordinary vigor and intenseness 
when he was dealing in rebuke. Many a culprit, I doubt 
not, has felt his crimes to be really enormous, for the tirst 
time, under his awful reproaches. But if he was a severe, he 
was also a just and humane judge. He had a great admira- 
tion for talent, as he had for honesty, and goodness, and truth. 
He detected the indications of ability and merit at the bar 
among its junior members, as they presented themselves there, 
with that quick perception which was so characteristic of 
him in all things, and he was prompt to lend to all such his 
countenance and encouragement. I'here was, too, in him, 
behind an exterior sufficiently austere and rigid, a deep well- 
spring of natural affections, and amiable and benevolent dis- 
positions ; and never was the rock struck, on any just occa- 
sion, that the fountains did not flow. The tenderness of his 
nature was easily stirred, and was often stirred, and that, too, 
from uncommon depth^. In his judicial capacity, however, 
it was the peculiar and commanding strength of his intel- 
lectual powers which chiefly made him a man of mark, and 
gave him his superiority. His mind was remarkable for the 
quickness of its perceptions, for its penetration, and its com- 
prehensiveness ; for the ease with which it would master the 
most complicated details, and bring order and light out of 



AMBROSE SPENCER. 65 

confusion and darkness. His mind was not of a nature to 
creep to a conclusion ; he strode to it by the directest way, 
and by a kind of giant tread. No lurking fallacy in the 
statement, argument or opinion of another could well escape 
the detection of his keen and scrutinizing glance. If the 
logic of a thing was wrong, however plausible it might be, it 
seemed as certain to meet exposure from him, as if it was 
wrong in principle or in morals. His judicial opinions may 
well be taken as models in that kind of composition ; clear in 
statement, expressed in vigorous, yet unaffected language ; 
presenting usually a single point, or view, on which the whole 
case must turn ; the reasoning carried on with equal acuteness, 
precision and brevity, with a rigid exclusion of all matter not 
essentially belonging to the case, or the argument; quoting 
authorities sparingly, but with admirable discrimination ; and 
when his conclusion is reached, stopping short, and leaving 
the principle developed and decided standing out in high re- 
Uef from the case, as a fixed and permanent land-mark of the 
law. Such was Chief Justice Spencer." 

Judge Spencer, in 1839, removed to a pleasant and quiet 
home in the village of Lyons, in this state, where he re- 
mained until his death. He died on the 13th of March, 1848, 
in the eighty-third year of his age. 



66 



BIOGRAPHY OF 



JOHN a SPENCER, 



^ ■« ♦ «. » 



John C. Spencer is one of Columbia's distinguished men^ 
and is a son of the late Chief Justice Ambrose Spencer, This 
distinguished jurist and statesmanwas born in the city Hud- 
of Hudson, county of Columbia, and State of New-York, on 
the 8th day of January, in the year 1788. 

He was educated at schools in the city of Hudson, one of 
which was kept by Mr. Hedges, until in his eleventh year he 
was sent to Kinderhook Academy, of which the Rev. Da- 
vid B. Warden (lately consul general in France) was Prin- 
cipal. He remained at Kinderhook, until he accompanied 
Mr. Warden on his removal to the academy at Kingston, Uls- 
ter county, where he was prepared for college. He entered 
Williams College, Massachusetts, in 1803, where he remained 
over a year, and then entered the junior class at Union col- 
lege, Schenectady, in 1804, where he graduated in July, 1806, 
receiving the first honor of the class. 

He then commenced the study of law with Daniel Jones, 
Esq., in the city of Albany, and continued under his direction 
until the death of Mr. Jones, when he entered the office of 
Daniel Rodman, Esq., of the same city, and was admitted 
an attorney of the supreme court, in May, 1809. In July, 
1807, he was appointed private secretary by Governor Tomp- 
kins, and remained in the office until May, 1809, when he 
married Eliza Scott Smith, daughter of James Scott Smith, 
Esq., and they removed to Canandaigua, in the county of 
Ontario, where he commenced his profession and continued 
in practice of it there, until his removal to Albany in June^ 
1839. In February, 1811, he was appointed by Gov. Tomp- 
kins and the Council of Appointment, a master in chancery 
for the county of Ontario. He was regularly admitted a 
counsellor of the supreme court, and solicitor and counsel- 
lor in chancery. 

In December, 1813, he was appointed by Gov. Tompkins, 
judge advocate of Gen. McClure's brigade of militia, and ser- 
ved with it on the frontier and in Canada, during the term 
for which it was called out. 



JOHN C. SPENCER. 67 

In January, 1814, he was appointed postmaster of Canan- 
daigua, by Gideon Granger, postmaster-general, in which 
office he remained about a year. 

In February, 1815, he was appointed by Gov. Tompkins 
and the Council of Appointment, district attorney for the 
five extreme western counties of the state, and officiated as 
such about three years. 

In April, 1816, he was elected a member of the fifteenth 
Congress, for the then twenty-first district. He served during 
the term of his election, and was conspicuous for the memora- 
ble enquiry which he instituted into the condition of the Bank 
of the United States. His associates on the committee were 
William Lowndes of South Carolina, Louis McLean of Dela- 
ware, and John Tyler and William Burwell of Virginia. He 
declined a reelection to congress, and in April, 1819, was 
chosen a member of the house of assembly of this state, and 
on its organization in January, 1820, was elected its speaker, 
in which capacity he introduced many needed reforms in the 
business of the house. 

He was elected and served in the assembly of 1821, the 
party to which he belonged being in the minority in the 
house. 

In November, 1824, he was elected a senator for the then 
seventh district, and took his seat in 1825, and served the 
whole term. 

In April, 1827, he was appointed by Gov. De Witt Clinton, 
one of the revisers of the statutes of this state, in place of 
Henry Wheaton, who had resigned on receiving a commission 
as minister of the United States at Berlin. Benjamin F. 
Butler and John Duer were his associates in this great work, 
which was completed and went into operation in January, 
1830. 

In March, 1829, he was appointed by Governor Van Buren 
special counsel to prosecute the persons implicated in the ab- 
duction of William Morgan, and discharged the duties until 
May, 1830, when he resigned. 

He was elected to the assembly in November, 1830, and 
again in November, 1832, and served the two sessions of 1831 
and 1833. 

In February, 1839, he was appointed by the senate and 
assembly, secretary of state, and in February, 1840, by the 
same, a regent of the university, in which offices he con- 
tinued until October, 1841, when he was appointed secretary 
of the department of war of the United States. 

In March, 1843, he was appointed by the President and 
Senate, secretary of the treasury of the United States, in 
which he continued until the 1st of May, 1844, when he re- 
signed that office, in consequence (as appears from a publish- 
ed letter to the editors of the National Intelligencer) of his 



68 BIOGRAPHY OP 

not concurring in the views of the president respecting the 
acquisition of Texas. 

In 1849 he was appointed by the legislature a commis- 
sioner of the code, but declined accepting the office. 

He received the degree of A. M. in course, at Union college, 
in 1809, and subsequently received the degree of LL.D. from 
the same college, and also from Geneva college, and Columbia 
bia college, N. Y. 

We have given mere dates and facts in the life of Mr. Spen- 
cer. But it is impossible to look over the list of public sta- 
tions he has filled, without perceiving that his has been a 
very active career. In the national and state legislatures, 
and in the highest executive offices of both governments, as 
well as in the revision of the statutes, and in professional 
duties of great magnitude and difficulty, it is generally known 
that he has been remarked for indefatigable industry and ap- 
plication. The nature of this work does not permit any ex- 
tended notice of the public measures originated or sustained 
by the persons whose names are commemorated. But, inde- 
pendent of the many valuable reforms and improvements in- 
troduced by the revised statutes, in which Mr. Spencer may be 
supposed to have had his share, there have been two great 
changes in our laws, which he is understood to have intro- 
duced, or shaped in such form as to secure their adoption, and 
to have supported with characteristic energy. Their import- 
ance justifies a brief mention of them here. One of them is 
the law originally passed in 1820, by which absolute sales of 
real estate on executions, at short notice, were abolished, and 
time was given to the embarrassed farmer to redeem his farm; 
and on his failure to do so, to enable his creditors to compete 
for it, so as to prevent any sacrifice of its value. The effect 
of this law in enhancing the value of real estate and prevent- 
ing frauds, has been most salutary. The other change, was 
the law to abolish imprisonment for debt, and to substitute 
prompt and cheap remedies to compel the desclosure of pro- 
perty and its honest application ; of this reform it is unneces- 
sary to speak. The laws which Mr. Spencer introduced and 
carried in relation to banking and common schools, and on 
various other subjects, have been numerous and important. 

William A. Spencer, Ambrose Spencer, Jr., and The- 
odore Spencer, brothers of John C. Spencer, were also 
born in the city of Hudson. 

William A. Spencer was born on the 7th January, 1793- 
He was educated in the schools of Hudson and at Fairfield 
Herkimer county. At an early age he entered the Navy of 
the United States as a midshipman, and in that capacity ser- 
ved in the fleet commanded by Commodore McDonough, in 
the celebrated naval battle on Lake Champlain, in 1813, in 



JOHN C. SPENCER. 09 

which he was wounded. He is understood to have been en- 
gaged in many of the naval engagements on the ocean during 
the last war with Great Britain. 

He remained in the navy, in almost constant service in the 
different grades, until in 1841 he was promoted to the rank 
of post-captain. In 1844 he resigned, and has since been 
occupied in the pursuits of civil life. 

Ambrose Spencer, Jr., was born on the I8th day of July, 
1795. He was educated in the schools at Hudson and partly 
at West-Point academy. At the beginning of the war of 1812, 
he was appointed a captain in one of the regiments of infantry. 
He was soon after selected by Major General Jacob Brown, 
as his aid-de-camp, and served in that capacity on the Nor- 
thern and Western frontiers. At the sanguinary battle of 
Lundy's Lane, in Canada, he was shot while passing in front 
of the enemy, carrying the orders of his commanding general, 
and after lingering a few days, he expired near the battle- 
ground. His remains, with those of other officers who fell 
on the frontier during that war, were collected and deposited 
at Sackctt's Harbor, on Lake Ontario. 

Theodore Spencer was born on the 24th of April, 1800. 
He married Miss Vosburgh, of Kinderhook, daughter of Myn- 
dert T. Vosburgh, and removed to Auburn, Cayuga county, 
where he practised the law for some years, and was district 
attorney of the county. About the year 1835 he abandoned 
that profession, and became a minister in the Fresbyterian 
church. He officiated as such a number of years at Utica. 



70 BIOGRAPHY OP 



MARTIN VAN BUEEN. 



Martin Van Buren was born at Kinderhook, on the 5th 
day of December, 1782. His father, Abraham Van Buren, 
was a farmer of moderate circumstances, in the town of Kin- 
derhook, county of Cokimbia and state of New- York, He 
was a descendant of one of those Dutch famihes who, at an 
early period in the history of this country, emigrated from 
Holland, and settled in the ancient town of Kinderhook. The 
maiden name of his mother was Hoes ; she also was of 
Dutch descent ; the name originally was Goes, The name 
of her first husband was Van Alen, by whom she had two 
sons, John I. and James I, Van Alen, and a daughter, all of 
whom are now dead, James I. Van Alen was a man of 
talents, and a lawyer by profession ; he was a member of the 
convention to amend the Constitution in 1802, and was after- 
wards surrogate of Columbia county. The mother of Mr. 
Van Buren was distantly connected with the family of his 
father before their marriage. 

Mr. Van Buren has four sons now living, to wit, Abraham 
Van Buren, who was born at Kinderhook, November 27, 1807; 
John Van Buren, who was born at Hudson, February 18th, 
1810 ; Martin Van Buren, junior, who was also born at Hud- 
son, December 30, 1812; Smith Thompson Van Buren, born 
at Albany, January 16th, 1817. 

He was educated at Kinderhook academy, where he ac- 
quired some knowledge of the Latin language, but his educa- 
tion was quite limited. In 1796, at the age of fourteen years, 
he commenced the study of law with Francis Sylvester, who 
was a respectable lawyer at Kinderhook, and completed his 
legal studies with William P. Van Ness, in the city of New- 
York ; he was in his office one year. 

In November, 1803, in the twenty-first year of his age, Mr. 
Van Buren was admitted attorney-at-law, to the bar of the 
supreme court in the State of New-York, and returned im- 
mediately to Kinderhook, where he commenced the practice 
of the law, and continued there in the practice of his profes- 
sion until 1808, when he removed to the city of Hudson, 
where he did a large professional business, until 1816, when 
he removed from Hudson to Albany, where he continued in 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 71 

the practice of his profession, with some interruption, until 
1828. 

Mr. Van Buren was an eminent and successful lawyer. 
Such a set of men as composed the Columbia bar about the 
time that Mr. Van Buren entered upon his professional career, 
perhaps has never lived at the same time in any other county 
in the United States; even the Lexington bar, in Henry Clay's 
best days, for numbers and for talents, would not compare 
with them. The talented Jacob R. Van Rensselaer, the learn- 
ed Ambrose Spencer and Thomas P. Grosvenor, the fasci- 
nating William W, Van Ness, and the eloquent Elisha Wil- 
liams, were there. After the elevation of William W. Van 
Ness, in 1807, to the judicial bench of the supreme court, 
Mr. Van Buren was employed in the trial of almost every 
important cause that was tried in this county, until he removed 
to Albany, and generally opposed to Mr. Williams. These 
men have had many a hard fought battle at the bar of Co- 
lumbia county ; although they were very dissimilar, yet both 
possessed talents of the highest order. Williams was witty, 
eloquent and sarcastic, Van Buren was persuasive, ingenious 
and argumentative. These men were not only generally op- 
posed to each other at the Columbia bar, but they were in 
the higher courts. At Hudson these distinguished men have 
tried may important and interesting causes in opposition to 
each other, and they attracted the attendance of crowded 
audiences; multitudes have listened to them with great delight. 
Their brilliant efforts at the Columbia bar are still fresh in 
the recollections of thousands, and will never be effaced from 
their memories. 

Mr. Van Buren is a man of pleasing and fascinating man- 
ner, and a man of unblemished private character. He has 
been remarkable for laborious study ; few men have lived a 
more active life. He has been an active and ardent politician, 
and his political career has been eminently successful. He 
is intimately acquainted with the human heart, and knows 
all its secret springs ; and to his deep knowledge of human 
nature may, in a great measure, be attributed his success as a 
lawyer and politician. He studied General Jackson's charac- 
ter, and was better acquainted with his predominant passions 
than Calhoun with all his talents ; and he insinuated himself 
into his affections and confidence, and he bestowed upon him 
the benefit of his immense popularity and great personal in- 
flence, which was one great means of his elevation to the 
presidency. 

It is believed that Mr. Van Buren has filled more impor- 
tant offices than any of the presidents of the United States, 
not even excepting John Q,uincy Adams ; he, it is true, was 
appointed to more foreign missions, but was never governor 
of his native state, nor vice-president, but Mr. Van Buren was 



72 BIOGRAPHY OP 

both ; and commencing with the humble office offence-viewer, 
he filled almost all the intermediate and successive grades of 
office, up to president of the United States. He passed from 
one height of glory to another with unparalleled rapidity, 
until he reached the summit of human ambition. He was 
appointed surrogate of the county of Columbia, on the 2l)th 
of March, 1808. He was elected to the Senate from the mid- 
dle district, in 1812. In 1815 he was appointed attorney- 
general of this state. In the spring of 1816, he wjs reelected 
to the senate of this state for the further period of four years. 
In 1821, he was elected to the United States Senate, in the 
place of Mr. Sanford, whose term of office expired on the 4th 
of March. Mr. Sanford was a candidate for reelection, but 
at a caucus of the republican members of the legislature, 
which was attended by eighty-two members, Mr. Van Buren 
received fifty-eight votes and Mr. Sanford twenty-four. He of 
course was regularly nominated. In the senate Mr. Van 
Buren received seventeen votes for United States Senator, and 
Mr. Sanford eight; in the assembly Mr. Van Buren received 
sixty-nine votes, and Mr. Sanford fifty-two. Mr. Van Buren, 
it will be perceived, was elected. He was also, in the year 
1821, elected a member of the constitutional convention, from 
Otsego county, and he was a very conspicuous member of 
this convention. 

This ambitious man began now to aspire to the presidency ; 
Washington presented to his mind a more widely extended 
theatre of action than Albany. 

On the sixth of February, 1827, he was reelected to the 
senate of the United States, by a large majority of both 
houses of the legislature. 

In 1828, he was elected governor of New-York. His mes- 
sage to the legislature, on the opening of the session, was a 
very able and well written document. 

He was appointed secretary of state in 1829, by President 
Jackson, in a few days after his inauguration to the office of 
President of the United States, and on the 12th of March he 
communicated to the legislature his resignation of the office 
of governor. When his resignation was announced, both 
houses passed resolutions of congratulation and thanks highly 
complimentary to Mr. Van Buren. 

In 1831 he was appointed by General Jackson, minister to 
England. President Jackson, early in the session of 1832, 
sent in his nomination to the senate, but it was not acted up- 
on by that body for a long time, and it was at last rejected, 
notwithstanding the great popularity and personal iniiuence 
of General Jackson. By the adroit management of Mr. Clay, 
a majority of the senate was organized against him; and as 
Mr. Van Buren was known to be the particular friend and 
special favorite of the general, and already destined by him 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 73 

to be his successor. This measure was selected by the oppo- 
sition as the one best calculated to check the power and mor- 
tify the president, and at the same tune to convince the Ame- 
rican people that the president was not wholly to control the 
dispositions of the national patronage. 

Mr. Van Buren, while he was secretary of state, had in- 
structed Mr. McLane, who preceded him as minister to Eng- 
land, in order probably to conciliate the British ministry and 
induce them to yield certain claims which Mr. McLane was 
instructed to urge, to say to tlie party then in power in Eng- 
land, that the administration of Gen. Jackson was more fa- 
vorably disposed towards them than that of Mr. Adams. 
These were the reasons assigned for resisting the appointment 
of Mr. Van Buren. 

President Jackson officially communicated to the senate, 
that that part ot the instructions to Mr. McLane was inserted 
by his directions; but this announcement tended rather to 
cornfirm the majority of the senate in their opposition to Mr. 
Van Buren's nomination. When it was known that the Uni- 
ted States senate had rejected his nomination, his political 
friends in the New- York legislature and the citizens of Alba- 
ny, held a meeting for the purpose of publicly condemning 
the course pursued by the senate in relation to his rejection 
by that body, which they considered an act of great persecu- 
tion. Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, on this occasion, delivered a 
very eloquent speech, denouncing this measure in severe 
terms. Similar meetings were not only held in different paits 
of the state, but throughout the union. 

Mr. Van Buren's rejection enlisted the sympathies of the 
American people in his favor, and unquestionably was one 
cause of his nomination for the office of vice-president by the 
Baltimore convention. 

In 1832 he was elected vice-president. 

In 1836 Mr. Van Buren was elected president of the United 
States. His inaugural address was a well written document, 
and evinced great ability and ing.nuity, and was favorably 
received. 

During the summer of 1839, Mr. Van Buren visited his na- 
tive state, and stopped at all the principal cities and villages, 
and he met with a very cordial reception, and was followed 
by crowds of people of both sexes. His reception at Kinder- 
hook must have been highly gratifying to his feelings. He 
was received at the Kinderliook hotel by an immense con- 
course of citizens. He arrived amid the roar of cannon and 
every other demonstration of respect that could be possibly 
shown to Columbia's distinguished son. He addressed the 
multitude from the jjiazza of the Kinderliook hotel, in a very 
pathetic and eloquent speech; and he was evidently very 



74t BIOGRAPHY OP 

deeply affected by the warm hearted manner with which he 
was received by the citizens of his native county. 

What a striking contrast did his present elevated position 
present to that of his youth ! In this his native village, he 
had held the humble office of fence-viewer, in early life ; and 
he was then administering the government of the most pow^ 
erful nation on earth ! 

In 1840 Mr. Van Buren was nominated a candidate for the 
presidency, but it is well known that he failed of being elect- 
ed; General Harrison, the Whig candidate for that office, suc- 
ceeding by a large majority. 

The feverish excitement which prevailed on the eve of this 
election, has seldom been witnessed in this country ; and the 
joy of the Whigs in consequence of their success was un- 
bounded. But their joy was soon turned to sorrow by the 
mysterious providence that so soon removed the man that 
they had elevated to the executive chair. 

Although Mr. Van Buren was defeated by General Harrison, 
he was not entirely subdued. In his last message to congress 
he reviewed the acts of his administration, and showed that 
our foreign relations were in a prosperous condition, and de- 
scribed the embarrassments which the country had suffered ; 
which, he contended, was the result of the failure of the 
banks to perform their engagements ; and he insisted that 
the course he had pursued was the only one which could be 
adopted, unless a United States bank had been incorporated. 
This measure, he considered, had been condemned by the 
American people. 

Mr. Van Buren has retired from public life, in the posses- 
sion of more wealth than most of his predecessors, and with 
undiminished powers of mind. 



BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 75 



BENJAMIN F, BUTLER, 



Benjamin F. Butler is a son of Col. Medad Butler. He 
was bom in the town of Kindcrhook. December 14, 1795, in 
that part of the town since erected into the separate town ol 
Stuyvesant, He was educated in common schools and at the 
Kinderhook academy. He commenced the study of the law, 
November, 1811, with Martin Van Buren ; was admitted as 
an attorney of the supreme court in May, 1817, and as coun- 
sellor, May, 1820. He was a law partner of Martin Van Bu- 
ren. He practiced law in Albany from May, 1817, to Novem- 
ber, 1833, except about a year, from 1819 to 1820, when he 
was at Sandy Hill, Washington county. 

In 1821 he was appointed district attorney for the county 
of Albany, which office he held until 1827, and then resigned. 
He was one of the commissioners who revised the statute 
laws of this state, appointed by the legislature, November, 
1824, which ended December, 1828. 

He was a member of the house of assembly, from Albany 
county, in 1828, elected in November, 1827. He was a regent 
of the University of New- York, appointed in 1829, resigned in 
1832. He was appointed a commissioner, with others, by the 
legislature, m 1833, to settle the boundary line between the 
State of New-York and the State of New-Jersey. 

He was appointed attorney-general of the United States by 
President Jackson, November, 1833, and held that office until 
the end of his term, and with President Van Buren until Sep- 
tember, 1838, when he resigned. 

He was secretary of war ad interim, from October, 1836, to 
the 4th of March, 1837, under General Jackson. 

He was appointed United States district attorney of the 
southern district of New- York, by President Van Buren, De- 
cember, 1838, which office he held until the Aih March, 1841, 
when he resigned on the accession of President Harrison. 

He was district attorney of the United States for the south- 
ern district of New- York, b)'' appointment of President Polk, 
(after declining the office of secretary of war, tendered by 
him,) from March, 1845, till September, 1848, when he was 
lemoved by him. 



76 BIOGRAPHY OF 

Mr. Butler is a learned and profound lawyer, and has been 
an active politician ; he is an able statesman, and was the 
intimate friend of Jackson and Van Buren, 

When he was elected to the assembly in 1827 for the coun- 
ty of Albany, he belonged to the political party that was then 
in a minority in that county. Unquestionably many of the 
electors in the county of Albany who voted for Mr. Butler, were 
opposed to General Jackson and his party, as it was known 
that the revised statutes would be acted upon by the assembly 
chosen in November, 1827, and that his services would be 
beneficial to the public on that occasion. It is a remarkable 
fact, that two of the three last revisers of the laws of New- 
York, were born in Columbia county, viz: Benjamin F. But- 
ler and John C. Spencer ; and Peter Van Schaack of Kinder- 
hook, revised the laws of the Colony of New-York before the 
constitution. 

At the time he was appointed attorney-general of the United 
States, on his leaving Albany, he was addressed by a large 
number of respectable citizens without distinction of party. 
Stephen Van Rensselaer, Abraham Van Vechten and Harma- 
nus Bleecker, were among the number. They eulogized, and 
very justly, his virtues, his legal learning, and his great talents. 

iVTr. Butler is now engaged in the practice of the law in the 
city of New- York. 

In looking over the public offires he has filled, it will be 
perceived that his has been a very active life. Mr. Butler pos- 
sesses talents of a high order, and is an ornament to the 
county that gave him birth. Few men have filled as many 
important offices, and he has discharged their several duties 
with great ability. He deserves well of his country. 



AMOS EATON. 77 



AMOS EATON. 



Professor Amos Eaton was born in the town of Chat- 
ham, county of Cohimbia and State of New- York, on the 17th 
May, 1776, and died at the city of Troy, May 10, 184-2. His 
collegiate education was acquired partly at Williams college 
and partly at Yale ; his first year was spent at Williams, 
his second and third years at Yale, and his fourth at Wil- 
liams. 

Mr. Eaton was distinguished for the strength and vigor of 
his intellectual powers, and for his extensive literary acquire- 
ments. He was indeed a man of unusual science, and has 
published a large number of valuable works, which have been 
extensively read and circulated, not only in this country but 
in Europe. 

The following is as accurate a list of his publications as 
we are able to make : 

"Manual of Rotany." — Of this work eight editions were 
published ; the first, a duodecimo of one hundred and sixty- 
four pages, in 1817 ; the eighth, an ovtavo of six hundred 
and twenty-five pages, in 1840. 

" Zoological Text Book," a duodecimo of two hundred and 
eighty-eight pages, printed in 1826. 

"Chemical Instructor," a duodecimo of about three hun- 
dred pages. Three editions were printed ; the first in 1822, 
and the third in 1833. 

"Index to the Geology of the Northern States." Two edi- 
tions of this were printed ; one in 1818; the other in 1820. 

" Geological Survey of the county of Albany," made by Dr. 
T. R. Beck and Prof A. Eaton ; published in 1820. 

"Geological Survey of the county of Rensselaer ;" publish- 
ed in 1821. 

"Geological and Agricultural Survey of the district adjoin- 
ing the Erie Canal ;" published in 1824. 

" Geological Text Book." Two editions of this were pub- 
lished ; one in 1830, and the other in 1832. 

"Alt without Science, or Mensuration, Surveying and En- 
gineering, divested of the Speculative Principles and Techni- 



78 BIOGRAPHY OP 

cal Language of Mathematics." Two editions of this were 
printed ; one about the year 1800 ; the other in 1830. 

" Prodromus of a Practical Treatise on the Mathematical 
Arts ;" published in 1838. 

" Richard's Botanical Dictionary." Of this work he pub- 
lished several editions. 

" Webster's Philosophy," a revised edition. 

Prof Eaton also published numerous pamphlets of which 
we have no accurate account. 



JOHN W. EDMONDS. 



79 



JOHN W. EDMONDS. 



The father of this distinguished jurist was born in the city 
of New- York, at what is now the corner of Wilham and Li- 
berty streets, on the 27th of August, 1760. When the war 
of the revohition broke out, he was a student at college, in 
Rhode-Island. He, however, immediately left his studies, 
and enlisted in the army as a private soldier. In various ca- 
pacities, he served during the whole war, having risen from 
the ranks to an ensigncy, and finally to an assistant commis- 
sary. He was at the battles of Monmouth, Yorktown, etc. 
On the establishment of peace, at the age of twenty-three he 
started to seek his fortune, having nothing but a horse, sad- 
dle, bridle, two blankets, and a little continental money. In 
1784, during his wanderings, he arrived at the site of what is 
now the city of Hudson, then called Claverack Landing. 
There, as one of the few settlers, he opened a small store, in 
which business he was found by the emigrants from Nantuck- 
et and Martha's Vineyard, who purchased the land and laid 
the foundation of the city. He was at one time a member of 
the assembly, and high sheriff" of tlic county, and he continu- 
ed in trade until the war of 1812, when he again entered the 
service of his country. He was soon appointed paymaster- 
general of the militia, in which office he continued for several 
years after the termination of the war. 

He died at Hudson in 1826, and within a few years a beau- 
tiful monument has arisen in its graveyard, erected to his 
memory by his sons. His wife, the mother of the judge, was 
Lydia Worth, daughter of Thomas ^^ orth, one of the first 
settlers of Hudson. She was a descendant of William Worth, 
who emigrated from Devonshire, England, in 1640, and set- 
tled in Nantucket. From this common stock have descended 
Major-General Worth, of the United States army; G. A.Worth, 
Esq., president of the New-York City Bank ; and the Olcott 
and Edmonds families. 

After the death of Gen. Edmonds, his widow resided chiefly 
with her son, the judge, until she died on the 20th of Novem- 
ber, 1841. She was a member of the Society of Friends, and 
instilled into her children many of the tenets of that respect- 



80 BIOGRAPHY OF 

ed sect, which have evidently influenced their conduct through 
life. 

Judge Edmonds was born in the city of Hudson, on the 
13th of March, 1799. His early education was at private 
schools, and at the academy at Hudson, where he prepared 
for college. In October, 1814, he entered the sophomore class 
of Williams college, Massachusetts, in company with John 
Birdsall, afterwards circuit judge of the eighth circuit, and 
attorney-general of Texas. In 1815, he solicited his dismis- 
sal from the college, and entered Union college, at Schenecta- 
dy, where he graduted in July, 181G. His share in the exer- 
cises of the comm.encemcnt, was the fall of Poland. On 
leaving college, he began the study of the law, at Coopers- 
town, with George Monell, Esq., afterwards chief justice of 
Michigan. After remaining at that place about six months, 
he returned to Hudson, where he studied two years, in the 
office of Monell & Van Buren. 

In the fall of 1819, he entered the office of Martin Van Bu- 
ren, in iVlbany. He continued with the ex-president, residing 
in his family, until j\Iay, 1820, when he returned to Hudson, 
and entered upon the practice of the law. He continued at 
Hudson, until his removal to New-York, in November, 1837. 

Inheriting the military disposition of his father, we find the 
judge, at the age of nineteen, a lieutenant in the militia, which 
commission he held for about fifteen years, when he obtained 
the command of his regiment. This office he resigned in 1828, 
on being appointed, by De Witt Clinton, recorder of Hudson. 
To this day, throughout the old county of Columbia, the judge 
is addressed as colonel, military honors appearing invariably 
to take precedence of all others. 

At an early age, he took an active part in politics, ranking 
himself as a democrat, and the first vote he ever gave was 
for Daniel D. Tompkins, when he ran for governor against 
De Witt Clinton. 

In 1830, the judge was elected by the democrats of Colum- 
bia, to the assembly, in which body he soon became a leading 
and influential member. 

In the fall of 1831, he was elected to the state senate, re- 
ceiving in his district, an unprecedented majority of over 7,500 
votes. 

In the senate he served four years, during the whole of 
which time, in addition to other duties, he was a member of 
the judiciary committee, and for the last three years chairman 
of the bank committee. 

It was also during his senatorial term that the subject of 
nullification, arising out of the forcible resistance of South 
Carolina to the tariff laws, occupied the public mind. A joint 
committee of the two houses was raised on the matter, and 
the judge was a member on the part of the senate. An ela- 



JOHN W. EDMONDS. 81 

iDorate report, drawn up by Mr. Van Buren, then vice-president 
of the United States, was made by Mr. N. P. Tallmadge, the 
chairman of the committee. About that time, Mr. Tallmadge 
was elected to the United States senate, and opposition to his 
report on nullification unexpectedly arising, the defence of it 
devolved upon Judge Edmonds. The debate lasted more than 
a week, during which time the judge stood alone against six 
of the most prominent senators on the other side. The result 
was the adoption of the report by an overwhelming majority. 

In 1834 the judge was chairman of a joint committee of the 
two houses, to whom was referred the subject of the United 
States bank, which its opponents alleged was creating pecu- 
niary distress, with a view of extorting from congress a re- 
newal of its charter. 

In the summer of 1836, Judge Edmonds was appointed by 
General Jackson, a commissioner to carry into effect the treaty 
with the Ottawa and Chippewa tribes of Indians. This busi- 
ness took him during the summer to Michilimackinac, where 
for nearly two months, he was encamped with over six hun- 
dred natives. In the ensuing year he received appointments 
in relation to other tribes ; but in the fall of 1837, he relin- 
quished them, and removed from Hudson to New- York, where 
he resumed the practice of law. He almost immediately 
found himself in an extensive and profitable business among 
the merchant princes of the commercial emporium. 

In April, 1843, without any solicitation on his part, the 
judge was appointed by Governor Bouck, an inspector of the 
state prison at Sing Sing. It was with much hesitation thai 
he accepted this unthankful task. The labor was indeed Her- 
culean. Scarcely any discipline was maintained in the prison, 
and the female prisoners had the entire control of the officers, 
hundreds of the males were entirely idle, and the earnings 
fell short of the expenses by over $40,000. But within 
eighteen months, a great change was effected, and the female 
portion of the prison was brought into complete subjection ; 
strict discipline was introduced and maintained among the 
males, and the annual deficiency in the revenue was reduced 
to less than a tenth part of the former sum. 

This task, however, was easy in comparison with a reform 
of a different character which he sought to introduce. He 
found, that for more than fifteen years, the system of govern- 
ment which had prevailed in our state prisons, was one pure- 
ly of force ; and where no sentiment was sought to be awak- 
ened in the breast of the prisoner but that of fear, and no 
duty exacted from him but that of implicit obedience. No in- 
strument of punishment was used but the whip, which had 
the effect of arousing only the worst passions of both convicts 
and officers — a practice of abominable cruelty, long engrafted 
upon our penitentiary system — revolting to humanity, and 
& 



bii BIOGRAPHY OP 

destructive to all hope of reforming the prisoner. So thorough- 
ly had it become engrafted, that the most experienced officers 
insisted that there was no other mode by which order could 
be kept. Besides, they found it was then so very easy to 
govern in that way. 

Passion, prejudice and selfishness, all combined to place 
obstacles in the way of this proposed reform, and its progress 
was very slow. Yet it steadily advanced, and when, in 1845, 
the judge resigned the office of inspector, his system was in 
the full tide of experiment. It has been continued by his 
successors to the present time. It has also been introduced 
into the state prisons of Auburn and Clinton, and is now the 
governing principle in all our state penitentiaries. With a 
view of carrying out his plan, in December, 1844, he institu- 
ted a "Prison Discipline Society," the object of which is the 
reform of prison government and the aiding of prisoners, on 
their discharge, to lead honest lives. This society is in very 
successful operation, and enjoys a large share of public con- 
fidence. How great an amount of good can be accomplished 
by a single philanthropic individual ! and for this one move- 
ment of the judge, how many poor wretches will rise up and 
call him blessed ! For this the tear of gratitude shall fall 
upon his grave, v/hile angels proclaim that, '4ie who turneth 
one sinner from the error of his way, shall shine as the stars 
forever." " Man dies, but not one of his acts ever dies. Each 
perpetuated and prolonged by interminable results, afiects 
some beings in every age to come." 

On the 18th of February, 1845, Mr. Edmonds received the 
appointment of circuit judge of the first circuit, in the place 
of Judge Kent, who had resigned. That office he held until 
June, 1847, when he was elected a judge of the supreme 
court. 

In the discharge of his duties as circuit judge, he was al- 
ways fearless and independent, reminding us of the famous 
Matthew Hale. A most extraordinary instance of this was 
exhibited at the anti-rent trials in Columbia county, in Sep- 
tember, 1845. The counsel employed in those trials, had 
been engaged in the same cases at the circuit in March pre- 
ceding, and had then manifested no little combativeness. 
They displayed the same warmth before Judge Edmonds, and 
carried it so far as to come to blows in open court. The of- 
fenders were gentlemen of high standing, and personal friends 
of the judge, and both at once apologized for their contempt 
of court. But the judge, with great promptness, committed 
them both to prison, and adjourned his court, with the remark^ 
that it was not his fault that the cause of public justice was 
thus interrupted. Perhaps none regretted this momentary 
outbreak more than the parties themselves, whose manners io 
private life are courteous in the extreme. 



JOHN W. EDMONDS. 83 

This event attracted a great deal of attention throughout 
the Union, and was noticed by European papers as "evidence 
of advancing civilization in Ameijca." The most gratifying 
feature of the case was, that it did not disturb the personal 
good feeling which had previously existed between the parties 
engaged in it. 

Upon the organization of the judiciary, under the new state 
constitution, Judge Edmonds was nominated for justice of the 
supreme court by the bar of New- York, and by the Tammany 
party, and was elected by a majority exceeding any of his 
colleagues. This result cannot but be gratifying not only to 
him, but to the public, inasmuch as during his judgeship he 
had made several decisions that warred upon popular preju- 
dice, and immediately before his election he had, with others 
of the democratic party, protested against the admission of 
Texas into the Union, as eminently calculated to lead to a 
war with Mexico, and to perpetuate the extension of slavery. 
Subsequent events have justified the sagacity which marked 
that act, while the act itself has subjected the gentlemen en- 
gaged in it to much obloquy and censure from their political 
associates. This proceeding was, however, rebuked in his 
triumphant election by the public, who honored him for his 
independence of character. 

The judge has one brother, Francis, cashier of the Mecha- 
nics' Bank in New- York, and somewhat distinguished as an 
artist. He has also three sisters, two of whom reside in the 
State of New-York, and the third, the wife of Colonel Webb 
of the United State^ army, is living in Illinois. 

The family of tne judge consists of three daughters, two of 
whom are married. — American Biographical Sketch Book. 



84 BIOGRAPHY OP 



AMBROSE L. JORDAN. 



Honorable Ambrose L. Jordan is another of Columbia's 
distinguished sons. He was born in the town of Hillsdale, Co- 
lumbia county, on the 1st of May, 1789. He commenced the 
study of law in the village of Spencertown, with A. P. Hol- 
dridge, Esquire, a very respectable lawyer, and a man of 
talents. Mr. Holdridge has been judge of this county, and 
several times elected to the legislature. Mr. Jordan continued 
the study of the law with Jacob Rutsen Van Rensselaer, in 
Claverack ; afterwards with Parker and Monell at Hudson ; 
and closed with Philip S. Parker, in the city of Albany. 

He commenced the practice of his profession, in the county 
of Otsego, in the autunm of 1812 ; continued there until Octo- 
ber, 1820. He then removed to Hudson, and continued there 
until 1838. He then removed to the city of New-York, where 
he has since practised. 

In 1814 he was appointed surrogate of the county of Ot- 
sego, and held that office until 1818. He was also district 
attorney of Otsego county in 1821. 

He was appointed recorder of the city of Hudson, and held 
that office until the fall of 1825. 

He was elected to the legislature in the fall of 1826, and 
remained there until the revised statutes were completed. 
He resigned on the 31st of December, 1829. From that 
time he devoted himself steadily to his professional duties, 
until 1846, when he was elected to the constitutional conven- 
tion, from his native county. 

In 1847 he was elected attorney-general of this state ; he 
declined a reelection. 

It will be perceived that Mr. Jordan has filled many im- 
portant offices, and that he has faithfully discharged their 
several duties. Mr. Jordan is an eminent lawyer, and, for 
many years, has been distinguished for his legal acquirements. 
He had attained to eminence in his profession before he left 
this county. He now ranks with the first class of lawyers 
in this state ; he has, in fact, but few equals, in this or any 
other state. He is now doing a large professional business 
in the city of New- York. Columbia is proud of this dis- 
tinguished son. 



JACOB RUTSEN VAN RENSSELAER. 85 



JACOB RUTSEx\ VAN RENSSELAER. 



General Jacob Rutsen Van Rensselaer was born at 
Claverack, in 1767, and died September 22, 1835, aged sixty- 
eight years. Mr. Van Rensselaer was several times elected 
to the legislature from Columbia county. He was in the as- 
sembly in 1809. He was again in the legislature dm-ing its 
session in 1812, and was chosen speaker. In February, 1814, 
he was appointed secretary of state of this state, in place of 
Elisha Jenkins, who was removed from that office. He was a 
member of the constitutional convention of 1821, and was an 
influential member of that body, and a frequent debater. He 
commanded a body of drafted militia that was called out in 
defence of the city of New-York, during the last war with 
Great Biitain. 

He was not only a distinguished lawyer, but he was an 
able statesman, and always took a conspicuous part in de- 
bates when he was a member of the legislature. He was the 
intimate fiiend and companion of Elisha Williams and Wil- 
liam W. Van Ness: they were not only personal but political 
friends, and their political influence was greatly felt throughout 
the state. Between these T:nen the greatest intimacy and 
friendship existed, which continued through life. 

Only those who were intimately acquainted with General 
Van Rensselaer can fully appreciate his worth. He was dis- 
tinguished for his liberality, his generosity and his patriotism, 
and was beloved by all that knew him, and he died bitterly 
lamented. His memory, with those of his friends, William 
W. Van Ness and Elisha Williams, will always be fondly 
cherished by the people of Columbia county; nor will their 
names ever die, as long as the archieves of the State of New- 
York are preserved. 



86 BIOGRAPHY OF 



NATHANIEL POTTER TALLMADGE. 



Nathaniel Potter Tallmadge is another of Columbia's 
distinguished sons ; was horn on the 8th day of February, 
1795, ni the town of Chatham, county of Cohmibia and State 
of New- York. He entered WiUiaras college, Massachusetts ; 
remained nearly two years; then went to Union college, New- 
York, and graduated there in 1815, He commenced the study 
of the law in the office of General James Tallmadge, of 
Poughkeepsie, soon after he left college, and took his license 
in the supreme court in August, 1818, He formed a partner- 
ship with General Tallmadge, and continued with him till 
he was elected lieutenant-governor in 1825, Tn the fall of 
1827, Mr, Tallmadge was elected to the assembly from the 
county of Dutchess, and was engaged in his legislative du- 
ties most of the year 1828, in the revision of the statutes. He 
was elected to the senate of New- York, in the fall of 1829 5 
took his seat in January, 1830 ; continued till near the close 
of his term in February, 1833, when he was elected to the 
senate of the United States for the term of six years. He 
was reelected in January, 1840, for six years from the 4th 
of March, 1839 ; the legislature having failed to make an 
election in 1839. In September, 1844, Mr. Tallmadge was 
appointed by President Tyler, by and with the advice and 
consent of the senate, governor of the territory of Wisconsin. 
He immediately removed with his family to Wisconsin, and 
entered upon the duties of his office. He continued in that 
office till April, 1845, when he was succeeded by Gov. Dodge, 
who was appointed by President Polk. Since that time Mr, 
Tallmadge has re^sided on a farm about three miles from the 
village of Fond du Lac, situated at the head of Winnebago 
lake. 

He was a distinguished lawyer and statesman, and has 
acted a conspicuous part in the theatre of politics. 



53ANIEL BRYANT TALLMADGE. 87 



DANIEL BRYANT TALLMADGE. 



Daniel Bryant Tallmadge was bom on the 6th of 
April, 1793, in the town of Chatham, county of Columbia, 
and State of New-York. He pursued a classical course for 
some time, but did not have a collegiate education. He was 
for two or three years a teacher. He commenced his law 
studies in 1815, with the Hon. Charles H. Ruggles, at Kings- 
ton, Ulster county, and finished his course with Elisha Wil- 
liams, of Hudson, and took his license in 1818. He pursued 
the practice of the law several years at Hudson, when he re- 
emoved to the city ot New- York. The conspiracy cases (as 
they were termed) of Jacob Barker and othere, had just been 
tried, and the parties convicted, and some of them were alrea- 
dy undergoing their sentence in the penitentiary. Mr. Tall- 
madge exam.ined the case, and expressed an opinion that the 
conviction was illegal. He was sent for by those in confine- 
ment, and repeated his opinion to them. They sent for their 
counsel, some of the most eminent men of the bar, and they 
advised that there was no help for them, and that they must 
bear their punishment with patience. Not willing to give up 
while any hope remained, they again sent for Mr. Tallmadge 
and directed him to carry the case to a higher court. He 
went to the supreme court and suffered a judgment pro for- 
ma against them there ; then carried it to the court for the 
correction of errors, where the judgment of the court below 
was reversed, and the parties set at liberty. This proceeding 
gave Mr. Tallmadge a high reputation as a lawyer, and he 
at once entered upon a full practice. He was appointed a 
judge of the superior court in the city of New- York, in the 
place of Judge Hoffman, deceased, and continued till the ex- 
piration of his term. He then returned to his profession, and 
pursued it with as much energy as the delicate state of his 
health would permit. He wrote a review of the opinion of 
the supreme court in the case of McLeod, which had pro- 
duced a vast excitement throughout the country. It is pub- 
lished in the last volume of Wendell's Reports, with the ap- 
probation of the most distinguished jurists in the country. 
This review was the climax of his legal reputation. It was 
deemed at the time, and has been considered ever since, as 



bo BIOGRAPHY OF 

in effect reversing the law as laid down by the court. It was 
afterwards quoted by Mr. Webster, in one of his ablest 
speeches in the United States senate, as setting the law of 
the case in opposition to the opinion of the court. Mr. Tall- 
madge's health continuing to decline, he went to the south, 
and died on his return, at the city of Richmond, Virginia, in> 
October, 1847, 



JOHN C. TIOGEBOOSI, 



JOHN a HOGEBOOM. 



John C. Hogeboom, of Ghent, Columbia county, was bom 
April 15, 17G8, and died January 21st, 1840. He possessed 
talents of the liighest order. Few men possessed equal native 
powers of mind ; and he was a man of great sagacity and 
highly esteemed. 

He was elected a member of the council of appointment io 
1803, and has been a member of the senate of this state. 

Mr. Hammond, in his "Political History of New- York," 
says : -'I cannot write the name of John C. Hogeboom, with- 
out recording my testimony of the goodness of his heart, and 
the energy and vigor of his intellectual powers. He was a 
native of Columbia county, where he died. His education 
had been limited, but he was one of Nature's great men, pos- 
sessing a sound judgment, and clear and discriminating men- 
tal faculties; ardent and indefatigable in advancing the inte- 
rests and wishes of his friends, he was courteous and liberal 
towards his political opponents. He lived esteemed and re- 
spected, and died bitterly lamented by all, and esjjecially by 
those who had the happiness of knowing him, 

John C. Hogeboom is the father of Henry Hogeboom, who 
inherits the talents of his father. He is a distinguished and 
successful legal practitioner at Hudson, where he is doing a 
large professional business. Very few lawyers investigate a 
cause more thoroughly and eflectually than Henry Hogeboom^ 
he was born in the town of Ghent, February 25, 1809 ; he 
graduated at Yale college in 1827, and is an accomplished 
scholar; he studied law with Powers &. Day, of Cattskill, 
and completed his legal studies with Mr, Bushnell, in the 
city of Hudson, He was admitted to the bar in 1830, and 
was appointed first judge of the county of Columbia in 1832, 
at the age of twenty-three years. He retained this office but 
a few years, when he resumed the practice of the law. He 
was elected to the legislature in the fall of 1838, and was 
there during the session of 1839. He was a prominent demo- 
cratic leader in the house of assembly while he remained a 
member. In the fall of 1849, he run for judge of the su- 
preme court against Judge Wright, and is now actively en- 
gaged in contesting the right of that illustrous individual to 
the seat he occupies. 



90 BIOGRAPHY OP 



JAMES VANDERPOEL. 



The Vanderpoel family, James, John and Aaron Van* 
DERPOEL, is a distinguisiied and talented one ; they are sons 
of Isaac and Moica Vanderpoel. 

James Vanderpoel was born in Kinderhook, January 
10th, 1787. He was the eldest son. He was educated at 
the Kingston academy, Ulster county ; commenced the study 
of the law in Kinderhook, in 1804, with Francis Sylvester^ 
with whom he remained about six months, and then re- 
turned to Kingston, where he completed his studies with 
Suydam &. Elmendorf, and was admitted to the bar in 1807 
or 1808. 

He commenced the practice of his profession in his native 
town in 1808, and continued a resident of Kinderhook up to 
1832. In 1810 he was elected a member of the assembly, 
and was again elected in 1816, and also 1820. He was ap- 
pointed surrogate of Columbia in 1812, which office he held 
for two or three years. During the whole of his early career, 
and indeed up to 1827, he was a federalist, and the intimate 
friend and associate of Van Rensselaer, Williams and others 
of the federal school : but in 1828, owing to the divisions 
and dissensions heretofore existing in the federal party, he 
became the candidate of the Jackson men for congress against 
James Strong, but was defeated by some thirty votes, the 
district having been strongly federal at the previous election. 
He was appointed judge of the common pleas of Columbia 
in 1824 or 1825, by De Witt Clinton, and afterwards circuit 
judge of the. third circuit in 1831, by Gov. Throop. In the 
spring of 1832, he removed to Albany, where he continued 
to reside up to the time of his death, which occurred on the 
3d of October, 1843. 

In consequence of a paralytic attack with which he was 
seized in the autumn of 1837, he resigned his office of circuit 
judge in February, 1838, and from that time passed the re- 
mainder of his life in perfect retirement. The following no- 
tice from the Albany Argus of October 4th, 1843, was a fitting 
tribute to his memory. 

" For many years prior to his appointment to the bench, 
Judge Vanderpoel had acquired a high reputation at the bar, 



JAMES VANDERPOEL. 91 

and was in public and professional life among the eminent 
men of Columbia county. As circuit judge of the third judi- 
cial district of this state, he was distinguished for learning, 
ability and promptitude ; for rapid and clear sighted views 
of the law and the facts, as he was also in his intercourse 
with his fellow citizens, for all manly and honorable quali- 
ties. But if his public career was honorable and elevated, 
his domestic life was eminently beautiful. He was truly 
the venerated and beloved centre of a family circle that ap- 
preciated the great and good qualities that shed a lustre over 
his life, and sustained and cheered the long period of his 
illness. To all indeed who were allied to him by the ties of 
family or kindred, or who came within the circle of his 
frendship, he was an object of the highest respect and the 
warmest attachment. Six years ago, while in the discharge 
of his judicial duties, and in the vigor of an acute and ma- 
tured intellect, he was struck down by paralysis, and from 
that period, surrounded by devoted friends, he may be said 
to have passed from the public world ; retaining his clear 
faculties, and enjoying and participating in the society that 
shared his retirement. A second attack on Monday forenoon, 
after a brief lucid interval, terminated his life early yesterday 
morning, an event greatly and widely lamented. Judge Van- 
derpoel was in his fifty-seventh year." 

The different courts then in session in the city of Albany, 
viz: the supreme court, the circuit court, the court of chan- 
cery, and the court of common pleas, adjourned on the an- 
nouncement of his death being made ; and the members of 
the bar attended his funeral in a body. The following notice 
of the death of Judge Vanderpoel, is from the Evening Jour- 
nal of October 3, 1843 : 

"Death of Judge Vanderpoel.^ — The Hon. James Van- 
derpoel of this city, for many years one of the circuit judges 
of our state, died this morning at his residence in Elk-street. 
Judge Vanderpoel, while in the discharge of his judicial du- 
ties several years since, was prostrated by a sudden and se- 
vere attack of paralysis. From the effects of the shock he 
never recovered ; and a fresh attack yesterday afternoon ter- 
minated fatally at five o'clock this morning. A large circle of 
sorrowing relatives and friends mourn his decease. 

"At the opening of the circuit court this morning, Daniel 
Cady, Esq., announced in brief and feeling terms, the death 
of Judge Vanderpoel, and as a testimony of respect to the 
deceased, the court adjourned until to-morrow morning. 

"Subsequently to the adjournment, a meeting of the mem- 
bers of the bar was held, John I. Wendell in the chair, at 
which the usual resolutions of condolence were adopted, and 
arrangements made to attend the funeral of the deceased. 



92 



BIOGRAPHY OP 



"At a meeting of the members of the bar of the city and 
county of Albany, and others in attendance on the circuit 
court, in the circuit court room, at ten o'clock this morning, 
the meeting was called to order by Daniel Cady, Esq., on 
whose motion the Hon. John L. Wendell was appointed 
chairman, and Lewis Benedict, Jr., secretary. 

" Samuel Stevens, Esq., announced to the meeting the death 
of the Hon. James Vanderpoel, and on his motion, it was 

" Resolved, "^at the bar has heard with regret the intelli- 
gence of the decease of the Honorable James Vanderpoel, and 
sympathize with his relatives and friends in their bereave- 
ment. That in testimony of its respect for the station, talents 
and worth of the deceased, its members will attend his fune- 
ral in a body, and will wear badges of crape for thirty days. 

" Resolved, That the members of the court of oyer and ter- 
miner, now in session, be invited to unite with the bar in their 
proposed tribute of respect for the deceased. 

"On motion of Tennis Van Vechten, Esq., 

"Resolved, That the secretary send a copy of the proceed- 
ings of this meeting to the family of the deceased, and cause 
their publication in the daily papers. 

" On motion of the Hon. R. J. Hilton, 

" Resolved, That the secretary notify the bar of the time and 
place of their assembling to attend the funeral of the deceased. 

" Albany, Oct. 3, 1843. 

"JOHN L. V^ENDELL, Chairman:' 

•'Lewis Benedict, Jr., Secretarij^ 

James Vanderpoel has one son, Isaac Vanderpoel, a re- 
spectable lawyer, now engaged in professional business in 
the city of Albany. 

John Vanderpoel, a brother of James and Aaron Vander- 
poel, is a distinguished physician at Valitia, in the town of 
KinJerhook, where he has for many years done and is now 
doing a large professional business. He is the father of S. O. 
Vanderpoel, of Albany, a young physician of high promise, 
who completed bis medical education at Paris, and was there 
during the last French revolution. 



AARON VANDERPOEL. 93 



AARON VANDERPOEL. 



Aaron Vanderpoel is a man of distinguished talents. 
He was born on the fifth day of February, 1799, in the town 
of Kinderhook, about three miles northwesterly of the village 
of Kinderhook, where he resided with his parents until 1802, 
when he moved with them to a farm about a mile south of 
North Chatham. 

His common school education was acquired in the village 
of North Chatham, and at Valatie, and some portion of it in 
the village of Kinderhook. In 1811 he went to live with his 
brother James, in the village of Kinderhook, and there began 
his classical studies under Elijah Garfield, an excellent scholar 
and linguist, who is still successfully pursuing his profession. 
Joseph Montague succeeded Mr. Garfield as preceptor of Kin- 
derhook academy, with whom he pursued his studies until 
May, 1814, when his brother placed him under the charge of 
Levi Gleason, a most celebrated teacher in his day, and then 
the principal of Lenox academy, then one of the best institu- 
tions of the kind in New-England. He remained at Lenox 
until February, 1815, when he returned to Kinderhook and 
pursued his classical studies under the direction and tuition 
of Peter Van Schaack, Esq., and his brother James, both of 
whom were admirable classical scholars. He continued to 
recite to them, but chiefly to Mr. Van Schaack, until the early 
part of 1816, when he commenced the study of the law in the 
office of his brrother, the late Judge James Vanderpoel, in the 
village of Kinderhook. 

He remained in his brother's office until May, 1820, when 
he was admitted to the bar, and immediately thereafter form- 
ed a professional connection with him in Kinderhook, where 
he pursued his profession (excepting the periods of his absence 
in the state legislature and in congress) until 1839, when he 
visited Europe, and on his return, finally located himself in 
the city of New- York, in March, 1841, which was the expira- 
tion of his congressional career. During all this time his 
practice was very large and lucrative, and he occupied a very 
prominent place as a counsellor and an advocate. 

He was elected to the state legislature as member of assem- 
bly, in the fall of 1825, when twenty-six years old, and served 



M BIOGRAPHY OP 

through the next session ; and was again elected in the fall 
of 1829, and served through the session which commenced 
in January. 1830. The published debates and proceedings 
of those sessions will show that he took a pretty prominent 
part in the business of legislation, laboring very faithfully as 
a member of various committees, as well as being a frequent 
debater. 

He was six years at Washington, as a member of the 23d, 
24th, and 26th congress. He took his seat in congress in De- 
cember, 1833, and left it in March, 1841, on the coming in of 
the Harrison administration. He was elected in 1832, 1834, 
and 1838. representing a double district, composed of the 
counties of Columbia, Greene and Schoharie, which accounts 
for his not being elected to the 25th congress ; Schoharie, ac- 
cording to the rotation at that time, being entitled to the mem- 
ber, sent the Hon. Robert McClellan. His service in congress 
was during a period of most vmexampled interest and excite- 
ment. The stringent measures growing out of the veto of 
the bill to re-charter the United States Bank, all originated 
soon after his first election, and agitated during his whole 
term of service, not only the national congress, but the whole 
country. During all this time, he was a firm supporter of the 
administration, having the full confidence of Presidents Jack- 
son and Van Buren, of both of whom he was a warm per- 
sonal as well as political friend. We need only refer to the 
files of the congressional debates and records of the proceed- 
ings, to see that he brought to the discharge of his duties 
during that period, the same energy, industry and ability 
which has characterized his life. 

In 1841 he resumed his profession in the city of New- York, 
and in 1843, after a residence of less than two years, he was 
appointed one of the judges of the superior court of that city, 
and served in that capacity seven years, ending on the first 
of January, 1850. The first and second volumes of Sand- 
ford's Superior Court Reports, contain many of his judgments 
and opinions, pronounced during the last two years of his 
judicial service, and from them we can derive some idea of 
the great amount of labor he was called upon to perform, 
there then being but three judges in that court, (to whom three 
more have recently been added,) who were compelled to sit 
throughout the year, with a single month's vacation, at tiisi 
prius, and at the general and special terms. 



PETER VAN ALEN, ^5 



PETER VAN ALEK 



Peter Van Alen was another of Kinderhook's talented 
men ; and that town alone, it is believed, has produced more 
distinguished men than some of the states of this Union. He 
was an eminent lawyer, and possessed high talents. He emi- 
grated to the State of Georgia, where he practiced law, and 
attained to great eminence in his profession. He was attorney- 
general of that state, an active politician and a statesman. 
He was greatly in the way of William H. Crawford, wiio as- 
pired to the presidency, and was shot dead in a duel by that 
distinguished personage. 

There are several more distinguished men that we have 
not yet noticed, born in the town of Kinderhook. Barent 
Gardenier was one of them. He possessed a genius of the 
highest order, and was an eminent lawyer. He was remarka- 
ble for his fascinating address, his brilliant wit, and for his 
eloquence. Shortly after he was licensed to practice at the bar, 
he removed to Ulster county, where he attained to eminence 
in his profession, and was elected to congress from that county. 
He was a man of quick perceptions, and was a very ready, 
able and eloquent debater. He was an ardent politician, and 
was a bold and fearless man. He was very frank in expres- 
sing his political opinions, and often came in contact with 
southern members of congress. He fought a duel with George 
Washington Campbell, of Tennessee, which originated in a 
quarrel growing out of congressional debates. Myndert Vos- 
burgh was another distinguished lawyer born at Kinderhook. 



■96 BIOGRAPHY OP 



PETER SYLVESTER. 



Peter Sylvester of Kinderhook, the father of Judge . 
Francis Sylvester, the man with v/hom Martin Van Biiren 
studied law, possessed superior intellectual powers, and was 
a distinguished lawyer. He was also a politician. He figured 
extensively in the political world, and filled several important 
offices. He was a distinguished member of the senate of 
this state, and was elected a member of the first congress un- 
der the constitution. He was also first judge of this county. 

We regret that we are not able to give a more perfect bio- 
graphy of this distinguished individual. We have named 
such offices as he has filled, that has come to our knowledge ; 
but we are not sufficiently acquainted with his history to 
trace in a particular manner his progress. 

Judge Francis Sylvester, a son of Peter Sylvester, was 
born at Kinderhook, July 22, 1767. and died January 31, 
1845. He was a respectable lawyer, and he practiced law for 
many years in Kinderhook ; and he was universally respected 
and beloved. His family connexions are extensive and influ- 
ential, and his death was greatly deplored by a large circle 
of acquaintances and friends. 

Mr. Sylvester was a delegate to the constitutional conven- 
tion of 1821, and has filled other offices. Judge Sylvester has 
one son, Peter Henry Sylvester, a respectable lawyer. He 
has been for several years in the practice of his profession, at 
Coxsackie, Greene county, and has been twice elected a mem- 
ber of congress. 



JOHN VAN BUREN. 



97 



JOHN VAN BUREN. 



John Van Buren, the second son of ex-president Van 
Buren, was bora in the city of Hudson, county of Columbia, 
on the 18th February, 1810. He was fitted for college prin- 
cipally at Greenville Academy, Greene county, N. Y. Mr. 
Huntington was then principal of that institution. Mr. Van 
Buren graduated at Yale College in 1828, and took his de- 
grees with marked honors. 

He began the study of the law with Benjamin F. Butler, 
late attorney-general of the United States, and completed his 
legal course with Aaron Vanderpoel at Kinderhook. 

He was admitted to the bar in July, 1831. Soon after his 
admission, his father having been appointed minister to Eng- 
land, he accompanied him there. He also visited most of 
the European countries. When his father's nomination was 
rejected by the Senate, he returned with him to the United 
States. 

After his return he commenced the practice of the law in 
the city of Albany, where he remained in the successful prac- 
tice of his profession until the spring of 1848, when he remo- 
ved to the city of New- York, where he is now actively enga- 
ged in professional business. He has a very extensive prac- 
tice. In June, 1841, he married Elizabeth Vanderpoel, the 
daughter of the late Judge James Vanderpoel. She died, 
October, 1844, leaving one child, a daughter, named Anna. 

He was appointed attorney-egneral of the State of New- 
York, in 1845. 

He was employed by Governors Fish and Hunt to assist 
the Attorney-General in the important stiits brought to test the 
validity of the patents of Livingston, Van Rensselaer, Clark, 
Hardenburgh, and others, in the counties of Columbia, Dela- 
ware and Albany. These suits involved important legal 
questions. 

Mr. Van Buren is a man of a popular and pleasing turn of 
mind : he is warm and ardent in his attachments, and is foith- 
ful to his friends ; his fidelity to his friends is a distinctive 
trait of his character, and he will stand by them under all 
circumstances. He revisited England in 1838, and was re- 

7 



98 BIOGRAPHY OF 

ceived with marked attention by Q,ueen Victoria. He was 
the centre of attraction amongst the highest and most pohsh- 
ed European circles. He was for some time in Ireland before 
his return to this country, and every mark of high respect 
which generous strangers could bestow, were extended to him 
during his visit there. The son of the president of the United 
States, with this warm-hearted and patriotic people, was an 
object of peculiar regard. 

Mr. Van Buren possesses genius and talents of the high- 
est order. As a lawyer, he stands in the front rank of his 
profession ; it is believed he has no superior of his age in this 
state, nor in this country. The writer had the good fortune 
to hear him for the first time during the anti-rent trials at 
Hudson, when he was attorney-general of the state, in the 
case of The People versus Dr. Boughton. He greatly distin- 
guished himself on this trial : it was a protracted one, and 
created great interest throughout the country, and was noticed 
by European papers. It continued for more than three weeks. 
During all this time, the court-room was thronged with an 
immense crowd of spectators, the great legal fame of the coun- 
sel employed and the importance of the trial, attracted the 
attendance of the highest and educated classes of society. 

Mr. Van Buren exhibited great tact, ingenuity and ability 
in the management of this cause, and succeeded in the con- 
viction of the prisoner, although he was ably defended by Mr. 
Jordan. Many of the witnesses on this trial underwent a most 
severe and thorough cross-examination, and Mr. V. B. suc- 
ceeded in eliciting the truth from some very unwilling ones, 
in spite of all their artifices to evade him. His address to the 
jury, for its ability, its ingenuity, and its adaptation to the oc- 
casion, has seldom been equalled by any man of any age in 
a court of justice. This effort won for him great applause. 

Mr. Van Buren is a man of extensive and varied know- 
ledge. He is not only a learned and profound lawyer, but he 
is an active politician and an able statesman. He possesses 
talents and acquirements that would adorn the most exalted 
stations. 

The following extracts are from the New- York Atlas, of 
May 14, 1848. The writer is believed to be Eugene Casser- 
ley, Esq., the present editor of the Daily True Standard, pub- 
lished at San Francisco, California. 

The writer says that "John Van Buren, as most readers of 
the Atlas are aware, is the second son of ex-president Martin 
Van Buren. The good old county of Columbia claims him 
for her child, and some of her best and stoutest Dutch blood 
is in his veins. He took his degrees with marked honors, at 
Yale College. Soon afterwards, he hung up his hat, as a 
student at law, in the office of Benj. F. Butler, (the present U. 
S. District Attorney,) at Albany. Under him and Judge Van- 



JOHN VAN BUREN. 99 

deipoel, of tliis city, he completed his studies. Mr. Butler has 
always had the very highest reputation as a lawyer; and 
Mr. Van Buren did not neglect to avail himself of the advan- 
tages his office afforded, tie laid then the foundation of that 
legal learning and ability, which have since so often stood 
him in good stead in important cases ; when he maintained 
himself fully, before the highest tribunals of the land, against 
the transcendant powers and vastly superior experience even 
of Daniel Webster. 

" He was but just admitted to the bar, when, his father hav- 
ing been sent minister to London, he accompanied the lega- 
tion. He took the opportunity to see most of the European 
countries; when, his father's nomination having been reject- 
ed by the Senate, he returned with him, in 1832, to the United 
States. 

" What results attended the partisan and intemperate course 
of the senate, is known to every reader. The nation, with 
one impulse, espoused the cause of the recalled minister; and 
a proscriptive majority in the senate, had the mortification of 
seeing their own act contribute to raise the object of their ani- 
mosity to the highest office in the republic. 

" From the date of his return with his father, Mr. Van Bu- 
ren went back to his desk and his law books, and for several 
years pursued the practice of his profession with assiduity 
and success. 

'•During this interval, he visited England, in 1838, on pro- 
fessional business. His position, not more than his personal 
accomplishments, gave him at once the entree into the most 
exclusive circle in the world. The young republican was the 
lion of a whole 1-ondon winter. The proud men and women 
of a proud aristocracy were disarmed in spite of themselves, 
by a manner and breeding as perfect as their own. His suc- 
cess at court was regarded as a sort of social phenomenon, 
and furnished more additions to the city gossip of the papers 
in London and this country, than an event of state import- 
ance. Democracy, his nursing mother, might have feared for 
her child, when she saw him the object of such blandishments 
and graces — the centre of the favors and honors of the first 
court in Europe. But, he was of higher mould than that. He 
was reserved for greater things. 

"Before his return, he spent a considerable time in Ireland. 
Thfe generous hospitalities of a warm-hearted people were 
lavished on the son of a democratic president of the United 
States, and, in more than one city, he was constrained to de- 
cline the honor of a public entertainment. 

" Considerations of obvious prosperity connected with his 
father's public relations to the democratic party, and subse- 
quently an irreparable domestic affliction (the death of his 
wife), kept him in comparative retirement until about 1845, 



100 BIOGRAPHY OP 

In that year, the long-growing feud between the two sections 
of the democracy of this state, tlie 'hunlcers' and 'barn- 
burners,' or conservatives and radicals — which had been 
smothered for a season, by the absorbing struggle of 1844 — 
broke out with violence. The election of attorney-general, 
for three years, was made the cheval de hataille between the 
two divisions. Mr. Rufus W. Peckham, of Albany, was the 
candidate of the ' hunkers ;' and Mr. Van Buren, of the 
' barn-burners.' After a hot struggle, Mr. Van Buren was 
nominated in the caucus by a majority of one; and subse- 
quently appointed by the legislature. 

" From that hour, he was ' before the people.' On him the 
'barn-burners' achieved their first victory in the party. Yet, 
it was not till afterwards that he displayed those qualities 
which have made him their unquestioned champion and 
leader in the state. 

"His career as attorney-general was distinguished by a skill 
and ability, in his profession, for which few, even of his 
friends, were prepared, and which gave him at once a very 
high position at the bar of New- York. Some of his prosecu- 
tions, of the anti-renters, and of the negro Freeman, at Au- 
burn, were master-pieces of legal science and power." 

The writer also alludes to the New-Scotland affair. " All Al- 
bany." he says, " was there, and Mr. Van Buren among the rest. 
But who was rij^ht and who wron^ in that memorable collision 
between barn-burners and hunkers, the young democracy and 
the ancient regency of Albany, it is not our province to decide. 
It was an important convention to both parties, and it must 
be admitted that it was carried by the barn-burners." 

The writer also remarks, "that it needs, they say, a great 
occasion, todevelope a great man. Such an occasion was near 
at hand for hlx. Van Buren. While Silas Wright lived, his 
commanding personal strength and character gave the ' barn- 
burners' a hopeless advantage over tlieir opponents. His 
sudden death, while it disheartened the former encouraged 
the latter to make a desperate struggle for their lost ascendan- 
cy in the State. A convention was to be held at Syracuse in 
September, 1846, to nominate state officers, under the new 
constitution. The 'hunkers' strained every nerve to carry 
it. The 'barnburners' did not awake to their danger until 
too late. The doings of that convention produced results too 
extraordinary in the state to be soon forgotten by our readers. 

"If it was a memorable era in the history of the democratic 
party, it was not less so in the career of Mr. Van Buren. It 
was a convention of distinguished strength and talent. The 
master-spirits of both parties were among its members — Bar- 
ker, and Cambrelling, and King, and Grover, and Rathbun, 
and Field, on one side ; and, on the other, Brady, and Sey- 
mour, and Stryker, and Peckham and Litchfield, The very 



JOHN VAN BUREN. 101 

flower of the democracy was there. To he an equal among 
such men was an honor. But, in the heat and press of the 
struggle, John Van Bm-en, hkc the Grecian king at Troy, 
stood whole head and shoulders ahove them all. He was re- , 
jected as a delegate, by the convention. That was not much 
to him. He was too great a quarry for the 'hunkers' to let 
him slip, once they had him in their toils. That convention 
brought him out, for the first time, in his native power of in- 
tellect and force of will, and made him at once the foremost 
man of his party in the state. His speech, in his own case, 
Avas irresistible in its argument — in its invective, tremendous. 
"It was a complete and signal triumph for Mr. Van Buren ; 
and as unexpected as it was signal. A few men had knov/n 
him as a strenuous and uncompromising radical. Most men 
remembered him simply as the son of a president — a young 
man, rather ornamental than useful — the "Prince John," in 
short, of the London gossip ; smart, good-lookihg, and well- 
bred, with rather a narrow escape of being a dandy. Not 
six men in the state were prepared for the powers he mani- 
fested at the convention. Like the Irish rebellion, he broke 
out forty thousand strong, when no body expected it. 

"Thenceforward, his career has been sufficiently direct and 
decided. He seems to have felt that, for him, the rubicon had 
been passed. He came at once into the contest, with a hearti- 
ness and a vigor which, while it attached his party to him 
more firmly than ever, and established him in the leadership, 
in the same degree embittered his opponents. 

"His speeches at Albany (directly after his return from Syra- 
cuse,) and at Herkimer, were marked by a boldness, a point, 
and an eloquence unknown in the political contests of the 
state. He did not hesitate to avow that he would not vote 
" the Syracuse ticket." With invective that overwhelmed, and 
sarcasm that cut to the bone, he assailed the candidates on 
the ticket, the men who made it, and all who supported it. 
He aroused the whole state. Every blow told. For weeks, 
he employed the entire ' hunker' press of this state in par- 
rying or retm-ning his attacks. He made himself felt even at 
Washington. He rose to a position of the first importance, 
not only in the state, but in the Union. 

"His latest speech, at Hudson, before the Columbia county 
convention, if less pungent than those at Syracur?e, Albany, 
and at Herkimer, is considered, by many, as his best effort. 
As an exposition of radical democracy, and its doctrines, es- 
pecially m the great and difficult question of the Wilmot pro- 
viso, it is most able; nor is it wanting in pungency. Here 
and there his native edge would bite through. For instance, 
a passage, which is said, by all who heard it, to have produ- 
ced the greatest impression, and which is not in the published 
report of his speech. Speaking of the prevailing tendency of 



102 BIOGRAPHY OF 

the young men of the day to be ' barnburners,' and its effect 
on the relative position of the two sections, within a few 
years, he said : 

" ' Wherever I go, I see a new race of men, between twenty- 
one and thirty, pressing forward into pohtical hfe in the re- 
publican party. I find that, almost without exception, they 
espouse with warmth and vigor the doctrines and the cause 
of the radical party. If I were a conservative, as I am not 
— to see these young shoots springing up all around me, would 
make me feel as I could fancy a dead man would feel if he 
could see the grass growing over him.' 

" It is in illustrations like this — plain, direct, and keen, 
which go home to every man's breast — that one power of his 
eloquence lies. His hits are 'most palpable' to every body 
— especially to the unlucky objects of them. 

" Mr. Van Buren is now about thirty-five years of age — in 
the bloom of his manhood and intellect. Since William H. 
Crawford was hurried into a too early grave, no man, at the 
same age, has enjoyed such a position before the country. Of 
course, he has enemies — many and bitter. That is a part of 
his character. But he has troops of friends, devoted, enthu- 
siastic, and efficient. Among the young men of the state, 
without distinction of party, his popularity is unbounded. 
They are proud of his courage, his talents, and his unswerv- 
ing loyalty to his friends. In this last quality, he is a genuine 
chip of the old block. Singularly unlike his father in many 
of his prominent characteristics, he resembles him in his 
fidelity to his friends. That, he carries to the utmost. He 
never shrinks from them, though, to stand by them, is certain 
ruin. His friendship has, in that respect, the devotion of the 
deeper feeling, of which the poet says — 

" Through the furnace unshrinkiug, thy steps I'll pursue, 
Aud shield thee, and save thee, or perish there, too." 

The elements of popularity in his character are not merely of 
a public nature. In common with all that have ever distin- 
guished themselves as popular leaders, he has the happy fa- 
culty of attracting equally all classes of men, in public or in 
private. He is the life of the social circle ; the wine does not 
sparkle brighter ; and his is the joke that is sure to set the 
table in a roar. 

" His style of speaking is strongly marked. Endowed by 
natute or education with a coolness and self-possession that 
are imperturbable, and, at times, perfectly superb, he has a 
habit of saying his most bitter things without apparent effort, 
and as if unconsciously. With the smoothest voice and the 
blandest air, he drops sarcasms and invectives that rankle 
forever. This is one quality that makes him unequalled in 
debate. 



JOHN VAN BUREN. 103 

" His personal appearance is striking. He is tall and slen- 
der, with a stoop not ungraceful in one of his height, and a 
gait which, like his sarcasm, is as unstudied and spontaneous 
as possible. The head, however, is the man. In any com- 
pany (uncovered) it would strike the most careless observer. 
It is perfect in its way, and is a type of its class. The fea- 
tures small and finely formed — the quick, well-cut nostril — 
the clear, keen eye — the firm upper lip : it is, altogether, a 
face and head full of rare beauty and expression." 



104 BIOGRAPHY, &.C. 



ABRAHAM VAN BUREN. 



Abraham Van Buren is the eldest son of ex-president Van 
Buren. He was born at Kinderhook, in the county of Cohim- 
bia, and state of New-York, November 27, 1807. He received 
his prehminary education at Greenville academy, Greene 
county. He graduated at West-Point Academy in 1827. He 
married Sarah Angelica Singleton, of Sumpter district, South 
Carolina, by whom he has three sons. He was first aid to 
General Macomb, while he was general-in-chief commanding 
the United States army. He served in Florida with General 
Scott, as his aid. 

He resigned his situation in the army in 1838. 
In 1844, he was appointed paymaster in the army by Pre- 
sident Polk. 

Mr. Van Buren served throughout the entire Mexican war. 
He acted as volunteer aid to General Taylor at Monterey, and 
in other engagements. He joined General Scott at Vera Cruz, 
and acted as his volunteer aid in every engagement up to the 
taking of the city of Mexico. His rank is Major. 

He now resides in the city of New- York, and is paymaster 
in the army. 

He was brevetted a lieutenant colonel " for distinguished 
and meritorious services at Monterey and Churubusco." He 
was also favorably mentioned in General Taylor's official re- 
port of the battle of Monterey, and the oiiicial report of 
General Scott, of the battles of Cerro Gordo and Churubusco. 
After the battle of Churubusco, and after the armistice was 
proclaimed, he was selected by General Scott to accompany 
Mr. Trist, who negotiated the treaty of peace, an officer of 
the army being requisite for that purpose. 

It will be perceived, on reviewing the important services 
rendered the country by Mr. Van Buren, that his has been a 
distinguished career. He is a man of unquestioned courage 
and military skill, as instanced not only at Monterey and 
Churubusco, but on various other occasions. 



APPENDIX. 



SPEECH OF ELISHA WILLIAMS. 

The following is the speech of the Hon, Elisha Williams, in the causes of 
Elisha Jenkins vs. Solomon Van Rensselaer. 
Solomon Van Rensselaer vs. John Tayler. 
The same vs. Chai-les D. Cooper. 
The same vs. Francis Bloodgood. 
The affray which gave rise to these suits took place at Albany, on the 21st 
<day of April, 1807, — a few days previous to the general election. The ac- 
tions were commenced in the Supreme Court, and, by consent of parties, 
referred to Simeon De Witt, Esq., Mr, James Kane and Mr. John Van 
ScHAACK, as arbitrators, and was tried at Albany in August, 1808. 

Abraham Van Vechten and John Wentworth, Esqs., were associated 
with Mr. Williams, as counsel for Mr. Van Rensselaer, and Thomas R. GolDj 
Ebenezer Foote and John Champlin, Esqs., were opposed. 

The great importance of these controversies to my client, as they respect 
his feelings, his property, and his character, is the only apology I shall offer 
to you, gentlemen, for the observations I am about to submit. The high 
confidence reposed in you, (who are selected by the parties themselves,) may 
be more finely expressed by the opposite counsel, but caunot be more sin- 
cerely felt than by ourselves. Nor, gentlemen, can a more sure and ample 
pledge of your ability, candor and integrity, be required, than that which 
you have furnished, in the patience and impartiality you have displayed 
through the tedious details of this unprecedented investigation. These con- 
siderations, inspire a confidence that the few observations I shall now sub- 
■mit to you, will be attentively heard and duly appreciated. 

The opposing counsel have confined their observations to the transactions 
of that unfortunate day, when, on the one hand insolence and insult were 
justly chastised, and when on the other, unbridled rage and brutal violence 
finally triumphed in the destruction of a patriot and a soldier. They have 
described General Van Rensselaer as the baleful star, which arose in the 
morning, and produced and justified all the fatal excesses and crimes perpe- 
trated throughout the day. Upon this theme, they have poured forth tor- 
rents of declamation, and evinced all the fiction, all the " melancholy mad- 
ness," if not the inspiration, of poetry. 

But, gentlemen, I must beg the favor of you to travel back with me to an 
earlier period— to examine the causes, which produced the misfortunes of 
tiiat unhappy day. And if, in this examination, we find that the political 



106 APPENDIX. 

elements were in violent commotion, prior to that lamented day — if we find 
that the machinations of the evil genius of our country, had prepared all 
things for an explosion — if, in fine, we find " the hand of Napoleon even ia 
this thing," let us hear no more of "the baleful morning star," and its bale- 
ful mid-day influence. Rather let the guilty authors of those horrid transac- 
tions, those incendiaries, who, to gratify an unholy ambition, dared to attack 
and stigmatise the fair fame of a soldier — to torture his honorable feelings 
with the most unfounded calumnies, until at length they compelled him to 
raise his arm in defence of his injured character — let these calumniators be 
dragged before the public, and let them feel from your hands, gentlemen^ 
the punishment which their dastardly conduct merits. 

What, then, is the real cause of all these outrages — where and when did 
they commence — and by whose hand was the fatal apple of contention thrown 
among these parties? 

It had pleased Mr. Edmund C. Genet, by some means, to procure from a 
Mr. Nicholas Staats, an affidavit, deeply impugning the character and con- 
duct of the Adjutant-General. The Adjutant-General, then not suspecting 
the dark and extensive system which had heen planned for the destruction 
of his character, accompanied by his aged father, called on Staats for an ex- 
planation of his affidavit. He was referred to Genet, whose bureau, it 
seems, had now become the grand arsenal, whence were to be drawn all the 
political weapons and democratic ammunition which the approaching con- 
test might require. Staats, acknowledging the errors which his affidavit was 
calculated to propagate, declared to the General that he had long refused ; 
but finally was prevailed upon to swear, by the incessant and pressing soli- 
citations of Genet; and, at the same time, referred him to the Citizen for an 
inspection of his oath. The General and his father then repaired to the 
house of Genet — there it was that the ofiensive observations were made 
which are detailed in the affidavit of those gentlemen. There it was, that 
this Frenchman painted the power, the designs and the intentions of the 
Corsican tyrant: — " Bonaparte, he said, had now disposed of all his European 
enemies, excepting England and Eussia. They soon would fall before his 
power; and then, if America did not treat him with more respect, she must 
expect that chastisement which his imperial master had never failed to in- 
flict upon national insolence and national impudence, foolishly styled national 
independence." These, gentlemen, were the observations which my client 
and his aged father felt it their solemn duty to submit, under their oaths, to 
their fellow-citizens. 

In this were they wrong? Did they violate any rule of justice, any princi- 
ple of honor in this procedure? No. It was a public conversation — nor^ 
with a semblance of truth, can it be said, that any confidence was violated. 
Nay, gentlemen, had they concealed it — had they failed to give it every de- 
gree of publicity in their power, then indeed might they justly have been 
charged with treason against the independence of their country. Who was. 
this man, who menaced our country with the vindictive power of Bonaparte ?■ 
A Frenchman! a man who, from birth, from education, from habit, and; per- 
haps, from principle, was well calculated to subserve the cause of his impe- 
rial master. A Frenchman, by birth, by education — a very Talleyrand in all 
the mysteries of political intrigue ; allied, extensively, to the leaders of the 
triumphant party; his influence almost unbounded over that party; this. 



APPENDIX. 107 

man now stood forth the commander in chief of the republican forces of the 
northern department. To awe the federalists into silence, when art and in- 
trigue, when calumnies and affidavits had failed, he now, as the dernier re- 
sort, brandishes over their heads the powers and the vengeance of his impe- 
rial master. 

Gentlemen, conduct like this is not new in the annals of the French na- 
tion, for the last twenty years. Look at all those miserable countries which 
France has deceived, betrayed, revolutionized and conquered, and you will 
find the same means in full operation. Not a nation but has been first cor- 
rupted by the emissaries of the tyrants of the terrible republic. And if pat- 
riots have resisted the ruin of their liberties — if they have detected and ex- 
posed the delusions, the deceptions of their enemy, then have they invariably 
been menaced with the vengeance of the tyrants of the world. But, gentle- 
men, these emissaries, who in every form, spread like locusts through every 
country, have always been able to delude and lead astray the majority of the 
people. They corrupt the presses, the very sources of information. Th3y 
flatter the ignorance, the prejudices of their intended victims — they wrap 
around them the glittering robes of liberty, which veils a thousand deformi- 
ties — they become the friends of universal liberty — the genuine defenders of 
the rights of man — they represent France as engaged in the great cause of 
philanthropy and liberty. They constantly, and through a thousand chan- 
nels, pour upon the people whole floods of high sounding terms and meta- 
physical jargon, and thus they succeed in bewildering the judgment, and 
corrupting the integrity of millions. In this seductive form, they have con- 
stantly proffered their accursed principles to the world; and on the eastern 
continent, nation after nation have " drunken the medicated draught, nor 
dreamed of the lurking poison, until, racked by convulsions, they awoke to 
expire !" 

Gentlemen, are not these facts established beyond the power of contro- 
versy ? Do you not already perceive, even in this our native country, that 
this sentiment, which, when first expressed by Genet, was deemed so infa- 
mous as to call forth its condemnation from the united suffrage of the party, 
is now heard with approbation? Yes, it now passes current for sound re- 
publican doctrine ; and the very thoughts and sentiments then first broached 
by Genet, are daily ushered into public, through the columns of the Boston 
Chronicle, the Baltimore Whig, and even Col. Duane's Aurora, with the si- 
lence, at least, if not with the approbation of the republican party. With a 
full knowledge of all these circumstances, gentlemen, let me now ask to 
whom were these insolent menaces uttered ? To Gen. Van Rensselaer — an 
old and faithful servant of his country — an officer of the revolutionary army 
— who had little left but his honor and his wounds, to entitle him to the no- 
tice of his country ; and to his son, the first military officer of the sta*e. 
These American officers heard this language from a Frenchman, with that 
indignant spirit which should ever inspire the defenders of our country. 

They were bound by every principle of honor and virtuous patriotism, to 
caution their fellow-citizens against the intrigues and principles of a man, 
dangerous from his connections and his influence. They felt the full force 
of the obligation, and their affidavits came before the public, supported by 
the oaths of M' Donald and Rockwell, in whose presence Genet had made 
eimilar declarations. 



108 APPENDIX. 

The federal meeting, referring to the affidavit, aud extracting the para- 
graph, express of Genet, his sentiments, and his political conduct, their 
warmest abhorrence. In the estimation of certain gentlemen, who styled 
themselves republicans, it became important to clear their northern mana- 
ger from the imputation of sentiments and designs so detestable, and then so 
unpopular. But how was this to be effected ? Two American patriots — 
two gentlemen of unblemished character, had, by their oaths, convinced the 
public of their truth. To remove that conviction, the most violent and im- 
posing measures must be adopted. First, Genet must be called on to deny 
the assertion of those gentlemen. He, however, declines making his affida- 
vit. He surveys himself with all the complacency aud pride of conscious 
greatness, and asks " shall I, who but yesterday a great minister of the ter- 
rible Republic ; who assisted in the production of a revolution which has 
wholly overthrown the land-marks of civil society — shall I, who, with impu- 
nity, attacked the character of the god-like Washington ; who appealed from 
the constituted authorities of this country, to the populace, and shook to 
their very center the government and constitution of this Republic — shall I, 
who sanctioned in my own country all those principles which finally min- 
gled in one mighty ruin the throne and the altar — shall I, who even now 
bask in the dazzling gloi-y, and greatness of Bonaparte — I, who am myself a 
Frenchman — shall I, stoop to kiss the Gospels of God to sanction what I pub- 
lish? No. Two American Officers have sworn to a fact. Singular indeed 
must be the state of the republican mind, and all my efforts and intrigues 
must have wholly failed of their wonted success, if the very troops / com- 
mand, are not yet prepared, upon my ivord of honor, to pronounce those offi- 
cers guilty of perjury." Gentlemen, was he mistaken ? Not at all. As 
though inspired by his genius, a republican meeting was called at the seat of 
government : a ci-devant republican secretary of state, descended to the rank 
of a republican secretary of this electioneering convention. This universal 
secretary, introduces to this meeting, a resolution substantially adopting the 
assertion of his manager, as truth, and substantially declaring that General 
Van Rensselaer was guilty of perjury. Yes, gentlemen, an officer of our 
government, dependent upon his superiors, if not upon Genet for a future 
salary, thus descends from his high station, to become the propagator of the 
basest slander. But he did not stop here. Not contented with this private 
blow at the character of the General, he steps forth into the gazettes of the 
day, and sanctions by his name and his official character, the basest slander 
that ever transpired. That this name gave a character, weight and deadly 
influence to this calumny, which it never would have derived from ten thou- 
sand anonymous publications, is not to be disguised. 

Much has been said of the character, the exalted standing, the extensive 
influence of the secretary. We admit them all. But surely in proportion to 
that character, standing, and influence, when he gave his name to the propa- 
gation of the slander, he inflicted a wound upon Gen. Van Rensselaer's cha- 
racter more deep and deadly. And in the same proportion, was tlie injury 
he inflicted and the crime he perpetrated, more aggravated, more destruc- 
tive. And here, gentlemen, let it be remembered, that Gen. Van Rensselaer 
was not a volunteer before the public. He was drawn out in self-defence 
against the foul aspersions of Staats, upon whom Genet had prevailed to 
swear to conversations implicating the General's reputation. He was not 



APPENDIX. 



109 



the first "to cheapen oaths," by making voluntary affidavits. No. This very 
citizen Genet, who afterwards disdained to swear to a suspicious statement, 
he was the man, that first induced the attack in the form of an affidavit. 
How, then, can his advocates indulge in declamation against Gen. Van 
Eeusselaer, for the course he adopted? Away with all this French mumme- 
ry—this squeamishness of "cheapening oaths." They are observations 
which should blister the mouths of the advocates of the man, who imposed 
the painful duty on my client of repelling with his oath a base and insidious 
slander, to which Staats had been made to swear. 

But it is now denied that Mr. Jenkins referred at all to the affidavit of 
Gen. Van Rensselaer. He referred, say his counsel, only to the resolutions of 
the federal meeting. Gentlemen, if those resolutions were before him, the 
marks of quotation therein used clearly demonstrate from whom the extract 
was made. If the public papers of the city were before him, the affidavit 
itself was under his eye. If in short the denial, the woi-d of honor of Genet 
was before him, then he was referred to the affidavit, and then all pretence 
of not referring to the general's affidavit, while he cites its language with 
such scrupulous exactness, must appear a hollow pretence and a puerile eva- 
sion. I disdain to spend another moment in exposing this weak subterfuge 
of conscious guilt. 

What grounds then, gentlemen, had Jenkins to publish to the world a 
charge of peijury against Gen. Van Rensselaer ? Is his veracity questiona- 
ble? Is the story improbable? Is there any opposite testimony? On the 
contrary, he is fully supported by three witnesses of unimpeachable veracity. 
Yet, says Mr. Jenkins, I believe these gentlemen guilty of perjury, because 
Mr. Genet denies the charge. I believe his naked assertion though opposed 
to the oaths of four American citizens, characters above suspicion. But why 
believe Genet ? Because "this meeting have uncontestible evidence of his 
attachment to this country.'' And where is that evidence ? Is it to be found 
in the calumnies which he heaped upon the immortal Washington? Is it to 
be found in his early attempts to drag "this country" into the wars of Eu-* 
rope; in his efibrts to involve us in all the horrors of the French i-evolution? 
In the insults which he profusely dealt out to our fii-mest patriots ? Or is it 
to be found in those wretched remnants of jacobin clubs which alamode de. 
Paris he scattered through the continent ? Where is it to be found ? What 
exploit for American independence exists of which he is the author ? What 
monument of patriotism, of bravery or of wisdom will remain to tell posterity 
even that he ever existed? You search in vain! Not so my honorable cli- 
ent and his venerable father? The one even in youth a veteran. The other 
long a faithful servant of his country both in the cabinet, and in the field. 
Let them bare their scars, those honorable testimonials of their long and 
faithful services to their native country; and to them let this adopted citizen,. 
boast of his warm attachments to our Republic. 

But the meeting further say Genet had married into a respectable family, 
— that he has several children — that he had been naturalized and, was the- 
purchaser of real estate. I dispute not the respectability of the family with 
which he is connected. But if this consideration is to affect the question^ I 
ask, from what family has my client descended? Search the annals of tlae 
state, and you will find from its earliest settlement that family l^s U'Sver 
ceased to be houoyaljle. The children of Mr. Genet, I grant, ^re (iiiu,gl.Ui3ive 



110 APPENDIX. 

evidence of the soundness of his constitution; but by what species of necro- 
mancy the secretary could drag them in to bolster the veracity of their fa- 
ther, is wholly unknown to me ; nor can I perceive in what manner his natu- 
ralization and property can be applied, either to confirm the denial of Genet, 
or to jirove the peijury of Van Rensselaer. 

If Mr. Genet was naturalized, I admit he was entitled to all the political 
privileges which the directors of this " asylum of oppressed humanity" have 
determined to extend to emigrants from Europe. But I would humbly sub- 
mit, whether the citizen, or any other emigrant, has any claim to a credit 
superior to that of the native citizens of our Republic. Gentlemen, all these 
pretences are straws at which couusel will ever grasp, when sinking in a 
flood of absurdity, and behold no chance of escape. Had they not been dwelt 
upon in the resolutions, and supported by the very respectable counsellor, in 
opposition, I should have deemed them scarcely worth a comment. 

Gentlemen, you will perceive that I have treated the resolutions of the 
democratic meeting implicating Gen. Van Rensselaer's character, as the act 
of Mr. Jenkins. We do not deny to any man or number of men the privilege 
of canvassing on the eve of an election. But we deny that any political club 
is justified in greater liberties with individual character, than is permitted 
to individuals of that club. We deny that any individual of the meeting 
who promoted the circulation of the slander, is to be at all protected because 
others joined with him in perpetrating the outrage. . And, above all, we de- 
ny, that a man who gives his name to the public in support of a calumny, 
who, thereby, gives it force, and form, and durability, can skulk from the 
responsibility, behind that portion of the populace, whom he might prevail 
upon to sanction the transaction. Wherever, then, the vile tale originated, 
whether in the wily brain of a foreigner, or whether in a motley concourse 
of electioneering dependents, Jenkins adopted it as his own. He placed it 
on lasting record. He attempted to hand the name of my client and his aged 
father down to their posterity, covered with the deepest infamy. Is he not 
then answerable ibr his conduct? As a gentleman, can he wish to avoid re- 
sponsibility? Does he attempt to shield himself from responsibility behind 
the political puppets, whom he collected and danced before the public in 
Albany? For his own honor, gentlemen, let him disavow attempts, so weak, 
so degrading. Let him step boldly forth, and in the character of a man, tell 
you, "If I have injured General Van Rensselaer, here I am to answer him." 
Let him disdain longer to keep a position so humble, so disgraceful, as is 
that in which his counsel have placed him. It is strongly insinuated, how- 
ever, that, as a soldier. General Van Rensselaer was bound by the '"code of 
honor" to call his antagonist into the field, and wash away the injury with 
blood. Gentlemen, he might have called him ; and so might he have "called 
spirits from the vasty deep." Not that I would insinuate ought against the 
personal bravery of Mr. Jenkins. But this is certainly true, that Van Rens- 
selaer, who had sought a personal interview the preceding day, could hardly 
expect that this gentleman, who had promised to see him, and had falsified 
his promise, would now reproach him with any violations of the rules of 
honor. And here, gentlemen, permit me to correct the opposing counsel, 
who seem to suppose that Schermerhorn was directed by Van Rensselaer to 
concMbl his name from Jenkins. He did not. The measure was adopted by 
-Schermerhorn, as he says, because he believed it the only course to procure a 



APPENEIX. Ill 

personal interview between the parties. That Jenkins knew the person who 
sought the interview was Gen. Van Rensselaer, is perfectly obvious, by 
the testimony of Mr. Spencer. Why then did not Jenkins comply with 
his promise to Schermerhoru ? This he might have done in the presence of 
his friends. And if he was unconscious of having inflicted intentional injury, 
he could have feared no personal violence. Gentlemen, if Jenkins could 
have uttered the language which his counsel now utter for him, would he 
not have met the General and have said to him — "It was not my intention to 
question your veracity — I did not allude at all to your affidavit. I only re- 
ferred to the proceedings of the federal meeting.'' Such an explanation (if 
founded in truth,) would as readily have been offered as accepted as satis- 
factory by any man of honor. This, gentlemen, Jenkins did not do. With 
truth he could not do it. No — he well knew that he had inflicted upon Van 
Rensselaer a wound which apologies could not heal. He had declared to the 
world that the General and his father had incurred the moral guilt of per- 
jury — that they had severed the chain which bound their consciences to truth 
and to heaven, and had become richly entitled to temporal and eternal infa- 
my and wretchedness. What, then, could General Van Rensselaer do ? In- 
sulted in the grossest manner — wounded in the tenderest point, and doubly 
wounded by the attack upon his aged and defenceless father; denied the 
possibility of access to Jenkins; goaded almost to madness by the conduct of 
his adversary, he determined to chastise and disgrace the man who had 
wantonly and in cool blood aimed the dagger at his reputation ; and who 
when called on for a personal interview had promised it, but had basely for- 
feited his promise. 

This he did. And now gentlemen let me ask, was the chastisement dis- 
proportionate to the offence? I do not contend that the provocation, high 
and aggravated as it is, furnishes a legal justification of the* assault and bat- 
tery. But it must reduce the damages to a point, merely nominal. 

That Jenkins expected (as he knew he merited) the chastisement he re- 
ceived, is evident from his language to Spencer — that he knew of the attack, 
is evident from the testimony of Miss Steele, of Eaton, and of several other 
witnesses; for when he beheld the man he had injured in pursuit of him. 
could he doubt his object? It is also evident from the conversation that suc- 
ceeded the affray. When Van Rensselaer declared that he had given him 
notice prior to the blow, he did not at all deny the truth of the assertion. 
But above all it is evident from the character of the assailant. Strong and 
conclusive, gentlemen, must be the evidence to convince any one. that a man 
of acknowledged honor, bravery and humanity, like Gen. Van Rensselaer, 
could act so contrary to all his principles and his habits. 

There cannot be a doubt then, gentlemen, that Jenkins beheld Van Rens- 
selaer in pursuit of him, heard his call, and expected the attack. That Van 
Rensselaer was his superior, both in activity and resolution, and that he ea- 
sily inflicted the chastisement he intended, we admit. And if we are to give 
any credit to the towering flights of the coansel, a scene followed in which 
more blood was spilt than flowed at the battle of Trafalgar. If the counsel 
are correct, poor Mr. Jenkins was beaten to a very mummy — his joints were 
dislocated, his bones broken, his features all disfigured, and he exhibited to the 
astonished citizens a spectacle to dissolve the marble heart of the veriest 
savage. 



112 APPENDIX. 

This, gentlemen, is a doleful picture ; but unfortunately it has no original 
What is the evidence ? While Jenkins was down and in Van Rensselaer's 
power, he did to be sure inflict several blows; but iu a part where most it 
would wound his honor and least endanger his life or limbs. He 'then vol- 
untarily retreated, and Jenkins rose and retired. Van Rensselear did not 
yursue him. He chose the manner best calculated to disgrace him, to pun- 
kh him for his insulting and injurious conduct to himself and his father. 
You, gentlemen, as men of honor, who know and duly estimate the value of 
reputation, who can feel the situation of a man unjustly and vilely calumni- 
ated, you will fully examine the offence and the provocation, and you will 
say, whether Jenkins did not merit, richly merit the slight chastisement he 
received from the man he had wantonly injured. 

I come now to the causes in which General Van Rensselaer is plaintiff. 
And, gentlemen, in the very threshhold we are met by a sort of justification 
interposed by the defendants, generally, not a little singular. 

The argument of the opposing counsel is in substance this. To my client 
they say, " you, sir, in the morning, broke in pieces the shield of the law. 
You therefore demolished all legal protection, and became an outlaw through 
the day. Upon you as upon Cain of old, was fixed a mark, and any that 
foiuid you might kill yon." Really, gentlemen, I am disposed to allow much 
for the dificulties with which the counsel are forced to struggle. And much 
for that peculiar horror which their ingenious minds must have experienced 
when they were forced to enter upon the justification of a transaction so 
savage and flagitious. But this is a stroke so bold, so utterly at random, as 
to surpass the bounds of charity itself. 

If General Van Rensselaer had committed a breach of the peace in the 
morning, it might well operate as a warning against all similar excesses for 
the day. But by what principle of common sense, reason or law it could 
justify or extenuate subsequent outrages — outrages, too, so enormous and 
bloody-— is wholly beyond my power to conceive. Nor can I devise any legal 
or rational connection between the morning chastisement and the savage ex- 
cesses iu the afternoon. 

But by what authority did these defendants become the avengers of Mr. 
Jenkins's wrongs? What connection exists between them and Jenkins? 
Not that consanguinity which, among savages, entitles to vengeance. None 
but a political connection has been disclosed. And has it come to this? 
If, "insulted and injured in ihe grossest manner by a man who refuses me 
every other satisfaction, I chastise and disgrace the insolent poltroon; and if 
he happens to be a republican, has every member of that fraternity a licence 
to grasp the cudgel, feel himself injured, and offer me personal insult and 
violence in the street. Gentlemen seem to suppose that when Van Rensse- 
laer presumed justly to punish a man bearing the sacred name of republican, 
it was war de jure with the whole tribe of Democracy. Nay, not content 
with this, they declare it a war of extermination, a war which would justify 
the tribe even iu the vilest attempts at assassination. If, gentlemen, this tri- 
umphant tribe have arisen superior to the law as well as the constitution ; if 
to gratify their passions, all the sacred principles of justice, equity and law, 
esteemed so sacred and inviolable by our ancestors, are to be trampled under 
foot, then this high claim may have some foundation. But if we are " breth- 
ren of the same family," and law and justice rise superior to the political 



APPENDrx, 



IVS 



(rqtiabbles and clubs of the day, then a weaker or more ridiculous extenaa- 
tion of an outrage, never was attempted. 

Permit me, gentlemen, to call your attention to the case of Tayler alone. 

We are here charged with several ofleuces. First — after the affray with 
Jenkins, Van Rensselaer insolcnily walked the streets ; went to the tavern 
where his horse was; and to the post-office for his letters. And pray, why 
should he not walk the streets ? After caning a man who richly merited it — ^ 
who but a tyrant would attempt to prevent it, and who but a madman 
would question his right. 

Again, it is said he sought Tayler. This is not true ; for, had he sought 
him; when in full view of Lewis' he stood upon the side-walk on the direct 
course to the post-office, would Van Rensselaer have passed to the opposite 
side of the street, and on his return have entered upon the south side-walk 
below him ? 'Tis incredible. But "he did notrnn, when Tayler called him 
d—d rascal and assassin." No, he did not run from Tayler. Heneve»did 
turn his back upon an adversary, and I trust in God he never will. These, 
gentlemen, are not the General's habits. Kis conscience and his feelings 
never taught him this resort of cowardice. 

This Judge Tayler is a grave, wealthy, senatorial father of the city, whose 
presence might arrest the arm of the pugilist, quell a mob, or hush a riot ; 
whose staff, like the trident of Neptune, could in an instant settle all the 
waves of commotion', and preserve order even among the elements of anar- 
chy. Mr. Button, in the true character of a christian, which he ever sus' 
tains, exhorted Judge Tayler to use his influence to prevent any further ex- 
cess. This gravely and repeatedly he promised. While yet these promises 
are upon his lips, a messenger arrives at his door. The Judge is no rude 
man; yet, sans ceremony, he leaves his friends. What powerful motive im- 
pelled him? Possibly he heard that General Van Rensselaer was insolently 
walking the street. Vengeance ran rasping through every vein. The grave 
mentor, the venerable father of the city, grasping a bludgeon in his hand, 
while his eyes beamed meekness and complacency on his friends remaining 
within his own wails, rushed forth to gratify his malice, and to wallow in 
revenge. 

The age of Tayler may have dimmed his sight; but, when the name of 
Van Rensselaer is pronounced by Mr. Rogers, he instantly drops the arm of 
his friend. Even the frozen blood of the grave old senator boiled like ^Etna's 
crater; and the first words that isssed from those lips that so lately, sweetly 
promised •peace, weie " you d — d rascal why did you, like an assassin, attack 
Jenkins?" In what " code of politeness" do the opposite counsel find a war-- 
rant for the venerable Judge for the use of this language ? Tayler, with cane 
uplifted, rushed to the conflict, and my cli-ent did not run. " Ergo, fsay the 
gentlemen,) they fought by mutual consent." Let me not disturb this logi-- 
cal conclusion, but frankly admit, that my client never would have troubled 
you with this suit against Tayler, had he not reason to believe that by his 
procurement, the mob was drawn to the scene of action, with intention to- 
permit the Adjutant-General to depart with his life, and with that only. 

What is the evidence of preconcert? 

Tayler's house happens to be the rendezvous of many of his friends. Tay- 
ler repairs to the market to purchase provisions, which he happened to forget 
to bring or order home. He whispered to the Cassidys. One of them im-- 



114 APPENDIX. 

mediately after Tayler left the market, with a club drawu, from some re- 
publican arsenal, happened to appear at the scene of action. 

The younger Cassidy invites his companion to go up to State-street to " see 
the scrape." How did it happen that these Cassidys were so wonderfully 
correct if not previously informed? When Gen. Van Rensselaer passed up 
to Lewis's, Cassidy said, "now the d — d rascal — (the watchword of their 
chieftain) will pay for it." At the moment of the conflict, it happened that 
Cooper. Bloodgood, the Cassidys, Tayler's tenant, and about 70 of his poli- 
tical friends, all appeared. This may indeed be accident ; but much it sa- 
vours of preconcert and of deep design. The battle soon commences; and 
while victory is suspended in equal balance, Cooper appears, not to rescue 
his wife from danger; she was of minor consequence, and committed to the 
protection of another. Not to defend Tayler from imminent danger — for his 
friends think he had the better of the battle, and stood in no need of assis- 
t^ce ; but Cooper appears, crying " knock the d — d rascal down." He 
passed Van Rensselaer and took hold of him or his cane, probably the latter: 
for the small end of his cane being arrested behind would bring the large end 
forward against Tayler's breast, as described by the witnesses, and the force 
of the blow being spent, the cane might easily be arrested from Mr. Van 
Rensselaer's hand. 

Cooper not only thus assisted to disarm Van Rensselaer, but, as one wit- 
ness declares, struck him. And, when bleeding and defenceless, he lay pros- 
trate upon the earth, he kicked him on the 'side ; that side, in which great 
and continued pain long remained, without any other cause that has or can 
appear. This conduct, cruel and savage as it is, does not prevent his coun- 
sel from attempting to present him to you in the character of a peace-maker. 
A peace-maker! What, that man who, when the battle was raging, mingled 
in the conflict — who disarmed and presented my client as a defenceless vic- 
tim to the bludgeon of his adversary — who, constantly cried havoc, and gave 
his full assistance to the production of the catastrophe — he a peace-maker! 
Gentlemen, if this be the conduct of peace-makers, let the blessing pro- 
nounced upon them be blotted from the holy record. 

It is worthy of remark, that while Tayler was surrounded by about 70 of 
his personal and political friends. Van Rensselaer contended with a host alone. 
But, 'lis said " Schermerhorn was there." Yes, Schermerhorn, who, as one 
of the witnesses swears, commanded almost the elements; he that day was 
there. This giant, this Hercules, this Orlando Furioso, was there. But that 
he raised his hand against any one, until Van Rensselaer was nearly mur- 
dered by the joiut attacks of Tayler, Bloodgood, and Cooper, is not pretended 
by any mortal. 

These, gentlemen, are the facts applicable to the cases of Tayler and 
Cooper. That they participated in the outrage, that they gave their full as, 
sistance to the destruction of my client, is beyond a doubt. That by their 
instrumentality, the mob was collected and the catastrophe produced, is also 
clear. It remains with you to say what punishment their conduct merits. 

Passing over the causes of Tayler and Cooper, aggravating, and disgusting 
as they are, I approach one of a very difierent complexion ; one which nei- 
ther friend or foe can examine without extreme pain. Such a case I have 
never witnessed — of such an one I have never read — and for the honor of 
human nature, I trust such a case will never again appear for judicial in- 



APPENDIX. 115 

vestigation. I am uot the enemy of Mr. Bloodgood ; but I have, gentlemen, 
a sacred duty to perform ; and if in the discharge of that duty, I lay him 
naked before himself — if I paint his conduct loathsome and shocking to hu- 
manity — he and his friends will be pleased to remember, that he furnished 
the detestable original. He has permitted this cause to come to this situa- 
tion, where the silence of counsel would be treason to the client. In exa- 
mining this cause I must, and I will, as far as in me lies, discharge the duty 
I owe to a worthy client and a suffering friend. 

Permit me, first, to examine the apology or defence set up for this man's 
conduct. It is comprised in this! '• He was in a phrenzy of passion; and 
thought his friend, .Judge Tayler, in imminent danger. Judge Tayler, who 
had grown grey in the study of the pugilistic art; whose dexterity and ex- 
perience in the use of the cane, could not be unknown to those who were 
bound to hira by a "triple cord;" Judge Tayler, whose herculean stature 
speaks his prowess; who, with the assistance of his hopeful son-in-law, had 
disarmed his adversary, and who, surrounded by seventy dependents armed 
with bludgeons, was in contest with a single man; this same Judge Tayler, 
thus situated, was in such imminent danger, as to justify Bloodgood in the 
murder of his adversary ! 

That Mr. Bloodgood was frantic with rage, is certainly undeniable. But 
why was he so? Had General Van Rensselaer ever from his infancy, per- 
formed one act, or uttered one syllable that could justly kindle all his malig- 
nant passions into a conflagration so uncontrolable? Had he injured Blood- 
good? On the contrary, was not this man one of that very meeting which 
originated the vile slander against the General? Had he been in any way 
attacked for his participation in this outrage ? Not at all. Wh:it then is the 
force of this paltry attempt in his justification? Without the slightest pro- 
vocation, he tramples on justice, discharges his reason and his judgment, 
gives himself up to the control of his malice and his passion, and then pleads 
that very passion in excuse for the consequences of its violence Now, gen- 
tlemen, examine the conduct of this man. While the contest continued be- 
tween the General and Tayler, and none of the spectators thought proper to 
interfere, Bloodgood, whether from Robison's corner, or from the site of the 
old church, or from Tayler's house, is wholly immaterial, rushes into the 
street, crying, " kill the damned rascal ;" an expression used as a watch- 
word by every member of the party, from Tayler to Cassidy. He then 
rushed behind Van Rensselaer, and with the butt of his bludgeon (the smaller 
end being grasped by both his hands) he aimed a blow which brought his 
victim to the ground. Gentlemen, what language can be found to express 
the deep infamy of this act? While engaged with Tayler in front, Blood- 
good, like a man abandoned by every feeling of honor, of courage, and even 
of manhood, strikes a blow from behind with a violence winch nothing 
could withstand. Attacked in this assassin-like manner, Van Rensselaer 
falls. At this, Tayler gave way, and, as though indignant at the infamous 
conduct of his coadjutor, left the ground. And even Cooper, having kicked 
his victim while wallowing in his gore, also retired and left the scene clear 
to the humane assassin who had brought him to the ground. Partially re- 
covering from the effects of the blow, Van Rensselaer attempts to rise. But 
before he can recover, another blow from Bloodgood again brings him nearly 
to the ground. At this moment the crowd rush forward. Pale, bleeding, 



116 APPENDIX. 

feeble, Van Reusselaer now totters from the fatal spot., Still frantic with 
rage, Bloodgood, as though nothing but the expiring groans of his defence- 
less victim could satisfy his mighty malice, still rushes upon him. Yes, gen- 
tlemen, a defenceless victim he truly was. His wandering eyes, his death- 
like visage, spoke his disordered senses. Instinct taught him to strive for 
the preservation of his life ; and, therefore, he raised his feeble guard against, 
he knew not what or whom. Bloodgood, still unsatisfied, still thirsting for 
blood, unmoved by this spectacle of weakness and wounds, beats down his 
guard, and continues the savage attack. Blow succeeds blow, and wound 
succeeds wound, until the indignant spirit of the soldier, tempered with the 
faith of an expiring christian, exclaims in agony, " Oh my .Jesus !" At this 
moment, as if forsaken by his God — as if given up to the perpetration of a 
crime at which his soul must still shudder; at this moment, when his muti- 
lated victim could find protection from no human arm, and when, seemingly 
in vain, he cried to the God of mercy, this frantic man again drew his fell 
weapon in both his hands, raised himself as if to superadd the weight of his 
body to the strength of his arm, and seemed to aim the final blow at his fee- 
ble, bloody, and almost expiring adversary. Instantly Mr. James, as a res- 
cuing angel, rushed forward and arrested the arm of this infuriated, this for- 
saken man. To him alone is it owing that this trial is permitted to be had 
But for his instantaneous presence the fatal blow would have fallen ; a blow 
which would have widowed two families and left their children orphans ; a 
blow, which must have sent to its long account the soul of a patriot and a 
soldier, and have drawn down the vengeance of justice and of heaven upon 
its bloody author. Let that unhappy man join in devoutly thanking the 
great disposer of events, that this was not permitted. 

This, gentlemen, is a correct portrait of this bloody scene. That it is a 
picture compounded of the blackest shades, without one tint of brightness' 
that it exhibits a creature of earth in all the naked deformity of corrupted 
human nature; that it displays sll the vile passions and qualities which can 
reduce " social man to a civilized savage," is, unhappily, wholly undeniable. 
And upon a full view of this infernal transaction, it is now your duty to mete 
out to General Van Rensselaer, the damages which his sufferings and his 
present ruined situation require at your hands. From whom are these 
damages to be taken? From men, wallowing in wealth; basking in the 
sunshine of political favor; monopolizing all the emoluments of the treasury, 
and enjoying the most lucrative ofiices in the state. As to one of them, it is, 
beyond all doubt^ the first in point of emolument, of any in this state. No 
small sum will afl'ect the purses of these gentlemen. No small sum will 
reach their feelings. Award against them but a few thousand dollars, and 
they will, laughingly, assign a portion of their income, for a few months, to 
pay the award. 

And, to whom are these damages to be given ? To a soldier, who, in the 
field of battle, has proved his patriotism and his bravery, and has, emphatic- 
ally, learned that mutual dependence is the strong cord which binds ingeuu. 
ous souls together ; that the only proper use of wealth is to render our- 
selves and friends happy. To a soldier, who is a brother to the whole hu- 
man race ; whose heart pants to find the object of charity, and whose hand 
has never withheld from a friend in want — even the price of his blood and 
his wounds. To a soldier, in whom, even while a youth, his country reposed 



APPENDIX. 



117 



the most miboundctl confidence, and towards whom the veterans of our land 
cast a partial eye, and destined him for high military glory. To a soldier, 
who, by this cruel, this dastardly, this barbarous outrage, is compelled to 
drag out a life of pain and wretchedness. Should he be permitted to retain 
his present office, while there are few or no active duties to be discharged ; 
yet his activity is gone, and the pride of his office and fame is vanished for- 
ever. But should war, with which we are so loudly threatened, actually 
visit us, conscious of the want of health to discharge the arduous duties of 
his office, he must abandon his profession, and cast himself and his family 
upon the "tender mercies" of a republic. 

What portion of pain has he now already endured. What agony has been 
thrown upon his family. Behold him returned to the arms of a disconsolate 
wife, covered with wounds, and in a situation but a little above death. 
Scarce one ray of hope is afforded by the physicians. Behold his wretched 
days and sleepless nights. Of his senses occasionally bereft, and tottering to 
his grave in pain and misery. Gentlemen, observe him well, and say, what 
ought those monsters who have produced this ruin, to suffer for their savage 
conduct. With what sum can they, who are the guilty cause of all these 
sufferings, satisfy justice and remunerate the sufferer. This is the past. 
What ai-e his future prospects ? Forever blasted by this iatal blow ; dis- 
qualified to pursue the culture of his farm, the occupation in which he de- 
lights, and chained to that narrow round, which his feeble limbs are able to 
bear him ; torn from the fond embrace of his country which had lavished 
upon him her esteem, only, in proportion to the pledges he had given of 
future greatness; and finally barred from the possibility of rising to that 
bright eminence which was the darling object of his youth, the delight of 
his riper years. * 

Gentlemen, view him well, and then tell me, shall not the ruffians who 
have destroyed him forever, repair, to the full extent of their ability, the ruin 
they have caused? Shall they not, with their fortunes, assist to mitigate his 
pains, and smooth his passage to the tomb? 



Aioards in the several causes — with costs to he taxed against 
the defendants in each cause. 

Jenkins vs. Van Rensselaer, $2,500 

Van Rensselaer vs. Tayler, 300 

The same vs. Cooper, 500 

The same vs. Bloodgood, 3,700 



APPENDIX. 



119 



Extract from a Speech of Elisha Williams, 



The following extract is from the speech of the late Elisha Williams, addres- 
sed to the jury upon the trial of Charles Taloe.for the murder of young Crandall 
of Kinderhook academy. The court interrupted Mr. Williams several times 
during the course of his remarks. At the close of them, the court perempto- 
rily stated, that he must desist in casting dishonorable and uncalled for reflec- 
tions. Mr. Williams, with perfect self-possession, and consummate address, 
turned his attention to the court, and, in an undertone of great force, said: — 
" Heaven forbid that 1 should detract from the dignity of the court. I am 
willing to give it all the credit which is due." 

Gentlemen of the Jury! — In all human probability this is the last time 
that I shall ever address a jury of my beloved county of Columbia. I have 
had the honor of entering this hall of justice for about forty years ; but pre- 
judice and couniption never entei-ed it before. Prejudice is an innocent pas- 
sion, so long as its possessor is unconscious of its existence; but when he 
becomes conscious of the existence of prejudice, it becomes corruption. 
Every thing, gentlemen, that I have attempted to introduce, in the shape of 
testimony, has been clipped by the long scissors of the law. 

You have arraigned at your bar, a young man of highly respectable parent- 
age, and interesting to all the circumstances connected with this important 
transaction, just bursting from the bud of infancy, and opening in the blossom 
of youth. I have not been accustomed to address a jury of my beloved county 
of Columbia, with trembling or fear, or under circumstances calculated to 
deter me from the discharge of my duty. Now, as on former occasions, I 
see in that jury box, men whom I have long known, and^whom I honor and 
respect. 

But, gentlemen, I know you to be but men, subject to the like passions, 
prejudices and frailties of our nature. I tremble from another cause. I have 
been accustomed to address the minds of a jury, unwarped by prejudice, un- 
ruffled by passion, and undisturbed by feeling. I know the load of preju- 
dice which has weighed down my client's hopes. Nothing has been left un- 
done, which could be done, to operate against him. The most loathsome 
slanders have been circulated in the public prints, and even the altars of our 
God have been defiled by this vile spirit of persecution. 

The learned counsel from New-York has compared me to a lion, that /ero- 
cious animal of the forest; but, gentlemen, I rather resemble the eagle, soar- 
ing aloft in his pride of place, and pouncing, if you please, upon a dove, and 
scattering his feathers to the four winds of heaven. But let me tell you, 
gentlemen, if eagles pounce upon no better vermin than the witness upon 
whose testimony the opposite counsel relies, nobody will be injured by it. 



^'U 



LlJ-ci 



